Biotech Updates

ISAAA Global Status Report Presented in Indonesia

March 25, 2011

"Bt-Corn NK603 and Bt-Corn MON89034 have already received Food Safety Certificate for human consumption by Indonesian Biosafety Commission on 22 February 2011,"  said Dr. Bambang Purwantara, director of the Indonesian Biotechnology Information Center (IndoBIC) in his welcome remarks during the seminar on 'Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops in 2010.'

Dr. Clive James, Founder and Chairman of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA),  discussed 'Global Perspective of Biotech/GM Crops: 2010, the 15th Anniversary of Commercialization'. He highlighted a record 87-fold increase in hectarage between 1996 and 2010, which makes biotech crops the fastest adopted crop technology in the history of modern agriculture.

Vice Minister of Agriculture Ir. Bayu Krisnamurthi said in his opening remarks that Indonesia needs a new technological breakthrough after the Green Revolution. He believes that  biotechnology seems to be a promising one since it has been well adopted in  Argentina, where many of its food is developed through genetic modification (GM) technology.

The event was conducted by IndoBIC in collaboration with The Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD), Indonesian Society for Agricultural Biotechnology (PBPI), and supported by The South-East Asian Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (SEAMEO BIOTROP), Croplife Indonesia and International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). The event was attended by 105 participants consisting of scientists, academicians, students, policy makers, farmers, journalists, agro-businessmen, and the general public.

For information on biotechnology in Indonesia contact Dewi Suryani at dewisuryani@biotrop.org.