ISAAA Briefs No. 34-2005: Executive Summary

Brief Background

Source: ABRI, Karaj, Iran

In 2005, several hundred farmers grew an estimated 4,000 hectares of Bt rice on their farms in initial commercialization activities and to ensure provision of seed supplies for full commercialization in 2006, when it is planned to deploy the Bt rice on 10,000 to 20,000 hectares. The Bt rice was developed by the Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute at Karaj and was officially released in Iran in 2004 on 2,000 hectares, to coincide with the International Rice Year. Iran is one of the largest importers of rice in the world, importing about 1 million tons per year, or more. The biotech rice program in Iran is well advanced but is only one of several biotech crop initiatives at 23 institutes, where 141 researchers are working on several biotech crops.

Value of Agricultural GDP: $13 billion

Major Crops:

National Rice Area (2004): 630,000 hectares

Biosafety:

The Islamic Republic of Iran demonstrated its commitment to biosafety issues by joining the Convention on Biological Diversity in August 1996, signing the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in April 2001, and eventually ratifying the latter in November 2003. The National Biosafety Committee was formed in August 2000, as part of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. The presidential board of this committee consists of the Minister of Science, Research and Technology, the Minister of Health and Medical Education, the Minister for Agricultural Jihad, President of Environment protection organization and three specialists.

(Source: http://www.escwa.org.lb/information/meetings/events/bio/
docs/BiosafetyInIran.pdf)

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