Indonesia
Indonesia is a country of more than 17,000 islands in Southeast Asia. It is an archipelago located between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Jakarta is the Capital City. It has a total population of 88 million (July 2005 est.). Indonesia has a total land area of 705,200 sq. miles (1,826,440 sq km), 11.32% of which is arable land. Of the total cropped area, approximately 18530 sq. miles (48,000 sq. km) is irrigated.
The government of Indonesia prioritized the application of biotechnology for the development of agriculture in the early 1980s. However, there was greater emphasis for its use in the early 1990s. The Research Institute for Agriculture Biotechnology and Genetic Resources, Department of Agriculture (RIAB); Research and Development Center for Biotechnology (RDCB), Indonesian Institute Of Science and the Inter-University Center for Biotechnology (IUC) are applying sophisticated and high-level biotechnology techniques. They absorb a high share of the resources oriented to agricultural biotechnology research (60% of total researchers and 70% of total expenditures). Apart from these institutes, the majority of the organizations in Indonesia are still in the first stages of development of biotechnology research. Most of the organizations only started or intensified their biotechnology research activities in the early 1990s.
Crops Being Field Tested or Commercialized Genetically modified crops being developed are corn, peanut, soybean, potato and rice. Limited field-testing has been done on insect- resistant corn, cotton, and potato; as well as herbicide resistant corn, cotton and soybean.
Agricultural
Scenario In 2004, agriculture contributed 14.6% to the gross domestic product (GDP) of Indonesia. Rice is an important commodity and is subsidized by the government through inputs and price support. Around 52 million people are involved in the agricultural sector - about 45% of the total labor force of Indonesia. Constraints to agricultural development include the following: * High population growth rate Indonesia looks to biotechnology to help address some of these problems. The major agricultural products of Indonesia are rice, cassava (tapioca), peanuts, rubber, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, and copra. Government Plan for Agriculture Food security is very high on the agenda, right now Indonesia is importing approximately 4 million tons of rice, 3 million tons of wheat, as well as 1,2 million ton of maize and soybean. Therefore, Department of Agriculture is very keen to increase productions especially to reduce imports. Since the expansion of the agricultural area is already difficult, adopting advance technology become a choice. Therefore Department of Agriculture is very supportive on the development of commercial biotech cotton in South Sulawesi. Public Sector/Private Sector Initiatives Several organization are actively involved in the development of biotechnology in Indonesia namely Indonesian Society for Agricultural Biotechnology and Indonesian Biotechnology Consortium.
The Biotechnology
Sector The government of Indonesia prioritized the application of biotechnology for the development of agriculture in the early 1980s. However, there was greater emphasis for its use in the early 1990s. The Research Institute for Agricultural Biotechnology amd Genetic Resources (RIAB), Research and Development Center for Biotechnology (RDCB), and the Inter- University Center for Biotechnology (IUC) are applying sophisticated and high-level biotechnology techniques. They absorb a high share of the resources oriented to agricultural biotechnology research (60% of total researchers and 70% of total expenditures). Apart from these institutes, the majority of the organizations in Indonesia are still in the first stages of development of biotechnology research. Most of the organizations only started or intensified their biotechnology research activities in the early 1990s. Advanced biotechnology products, like biotech plants, have not yet been developed by Indonesian organizations up to a level of final technology release. Researchers’ incentives are oriented to more basic research than to technology development.
Regulatory Environment Biosafety To implement the decree, a committee for biosafety was formed in 1997. The Committee is supported by a technical team, which consists of experts in plant biotechnology representing different national institutes and universities. The technical team formulated a series of guidelines for release of genetically engineered organisms. These series include the general and specific guidelines for genetically engineered plants, microbes, fish and cattle. In order to cover the food safety aspect of GM products, the first biosafety regulation, put in place by the Minister of Agriculture in 1997, was amended as a joint ministerial decree among the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Forestry and Estate Crops, Ministry of Health and State Ministry of Food and Horticulture in September 1999. The guidelines for food safety of GMO products were released in 2000. Indonesia planted biotech cotton from 2001 to 2003. However, due to expiry of permits, no biotech cotton was planted in 2004. Indonesia has ratified the Cartagena Protocol by joint effort of several organizations i.e Ministry for Environment, Department of Agriculture and Indonesian Institute of Science. IPR In 1991, respect to biotechnological invention, no patent could be granted for any process for production of food, drinks for human and animal consumption, new plants, animals or their products. In the 1997 revision, patenting the above biological products was made possible.In the 2001 revision patenting living organisms (except for microbes) i.e plant and animals was not possible. Patenting a biotechnological processes is allowed but the product will not be protected. In 2000 Indonesia enacted Law for Plant Variety Protection (Plant Breeders Right), where Plant Variety can be protected, however there is a provision that farmers can use a part of their harvest as a seed for their future plantings and reserachers can use the protected varieties for research purpose to build a new varieties. Organizational Structure of Relevant Institution The patent law was administered under Directorate General for Intellectual Property under Ministry for Justice and Human Rights. The Plant Variety Protection Law will be administered by Center for Plant Variety Protection under the Department of Agriculture URL Links for Details http://www.dgip.go.id for Patent Law Labeling Food Law 1996.Government Regulation No. 69/1999 on Food Labeling and Advertisement Food Law enacted in 1996 about food safety stated that food safety assesment of the genetically modified food shall be done prior to distribution in the market Government Regulation No. 69/1999 on Food Labeling and Advertisement stated that packaged food containing genetically modified food shall be labelled. The implementing regulation is still under discussion, the threshold seems to be 5%. Organizational Structure of Relevant Institution The agency responsible for food safety and food labelling is National Agency for Drug and Food Control (Badan Pengawasan Obat dan Makanan) |
Other Countries: Summary
Report on the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops
- [View
the 2004 report] Transgenic Crops - [Click Here] Extensive Study on Bt Cotton - [Click Here] Download the complete copy of the ISAAA Briefs on Global Status/Review of GM Crops - [Click Here] SciDev.Net's dossier on GM crops - [Click here] Global Status of Approved Genetically Modified Plants - [Click here] |
|
| Home :: Global Status :: CBT Update :: Info Resource :: Events :: BICs :: Directory :: About Us :: Editorial Policy | ||
Copyright © 2006. CropBiotech Net. |
||
