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• March 12, 2010

Articles in the March 12, 2010 Issue of Crop Biotech Update

NEWS Global • GIPB Presents National Plant Breeding Programs of 35 Countries  • Bayer and Mendel Biotech Collaborate on Crop Protection  Africa • Uganda Tackles Biotech Crops  Americas • Ag Groups' Brief on Supreme Court Case for Biotech Alfalfa  • Plant Hormone Increases Cotton Yields in Drought Conditions  • Geraniums Could Help Control Devastating Japanese Beetle  • Research and Development Expansion in Indianapolis  Asia and the Pacific • Biotech Gets the Go Ahead from Bangladesh Agriculture Minister  • Biotech Workshop For Farmers in Medan, Indonesia  • Pakistan and China Tie-up on Improving Agric Sector  • Recommendations of Biotech Conference in India  Europe • British Gradually Changing Attitude toward GM Food  • EFSA's Public Consultation on Revised Guidance for Environmental Risk Assessment of GM Plants  • BASF at Work after Amflora Approval  • Barroso Defends Transgenics and EFSA Scientists  • EU-JRC Plant Summary Notifications  Research • New Simple Biomass Process Yield Fermentable Sugars for Bioethanol  • Turning Sexually Reproducing Plant to Asexual Reproduction  Announcements • Conference on Fostering Growth and Reducing Poverty and Hunger in Asia and Latin America  • World Cowpea Research Conference  • Seminar on Microbiology in Indonesia  Document Reminders • Papers for Conference on Biotech-based Sustainable Agriculture  • CITC Publication on Biotech

Biotech Gets the Go Ahead from Bangladesh Agriculture Minister

Biotechnology is an indispensable tool to meet the world's growing demand for more food. It is a useful tool to fight hunger, poverty and malnutrition when biosafety requirements are strictly followed. Bangladesh Minister for Agriculture Begum Matia Chowdhury made these remarks as Chief Guest during the launch of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) report on the global status of commercialized biotech/GM crops for 2009.

The Minister mentioned that the food demand of the country is expected to be almost double during the next 20-25 years. Additional production has to be achieved from the ever lessening land and water resources. By 2015, population is estimated to be 165 million. Bangladesh has 14 million hectares of arable land, where 1.5 million ha are flood prone, 5.05 million ha are susceptible to drought and 3 million ha have salinity problems.

Dr. Randy Hautea, global coordinator of ISAAA, presented the 2009 report noting that a record 14 million farmers in 25 countries planted 134 million hectares. This is a significant increase of 7% or 9 million ha over 2008. Dr. Wais Kabir, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (BARC) presided over the launch and said that the present government and public in general are for modern technology and for the adoption of biotech crops as long as proven safe.

ISAAA organized the seminar in collaboration with BARC and Bangladesh Association for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (BABGE) on 11 March, 2010 at BARC auditorium. It was attended by around 150 academicians, scientists and journalists.

For more information about crop biotechnology in Bangladesh email Dr. Khondoker Nasiruddin at nasirbiotech@yahoo.com. The Executive Summary and Highlights of the ISAAA report are available at http://www.isaaa.org

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This article is part of the Crop Biotech Update, a weekly summary of world developments in agri-biotech for developing countries, produced by the Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology, International Service for the Aquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications SEAsiaCenter (ISAAA)

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