Publications: About ISAAA

Chairman's Commentary

The Advent of Biotech in Agriculture

As predicted, 1995 was a watershed year for agricultural biotechnology. We witnessed approximately 20 transgenic crops of major importance released for commercialization in several industrial countries, 14 of them in the USA alone. Approved transgenic crops now include maize, cotton, and potatoes with insect resistance conferred by Bt genes; herbicide-resistant soybean and cotton; nonconventional virus-resistant squash and cantaloupe; delayed-ripening tomatoes; canola with modified oils and male sterility; and potatoes with modified starch as a quality trait. The realization that biotechnology is now capable of making an immediate impact by contributing to productivity at the grass-roots level--in farmers' fields--has greatly heightened the interest of ISAAA's target countries in biotechnology transfer.

Approval of a large family of important transgenic crops provides biotechnology credibility not only with the lay public but also with the international scientific community. This community will continue applying rigorous standards to judge biotechnology's contribution, on the merit of the science; its socioeconomic impact; and its ability to contribute to more sustainable agricultural systems, in which productivity is enhanced and maintained and environmental safety is not at risk. The deployment of transgenic germplasm on large areas in industrialized countries also presents some interesting challenges. For the first time, the durability of the newly deployed genes for insect resistance and nonconventional virus resistance will be put to the test. Coincidentally, the public and private sectors will be challenged to work together to implement appropriate new strategies for gene deployment and contribute new knowledge to the global scientific community on this important development. ISAAA can play an appropriate role by ensuring that the developing countries are full partners in this global dialogue.

External Review and Outcomes

A major task for the ISAAA Board and Management in 1995 was to consider the recommendations of the External Review, commissioned in December 1994, and to formulate a response that would provide a solid foundation for guiding ISAAA's future development. After exhaustive deliberations in early 1995, the review panel's recommendations and the Board's response were completed, published, and circulated widely amongst client countries, the donor support group, and interested agencies in the international development community. The Board welcomed the supportive and constructive comments of the review panel and particularly valued the full involvement of clients and donors and the transparent, frank exchange of views. The Board reaffirmed the review panel's endorsement of ISAAA's principal mission "of implementing carefully selected technology transfer projects to deliver products for the benefit of small farmers." Board members concurred with all of the major recommendations of the External Review and encouraged management to implement them promptly.

In response, many actions have already been taken by ISAAA:

• The EuroCenter was reorganized, releasing resources to establish nodes in Latin America and Southeast Asia (LatiCenter and SEAsiaCenter) earlier than planned.

• The model project to develop virus-resistant potato, a joint effort by Mexico and Monsanto, has been assigned high priority. A new agreement was signed, allowing Mexico to share this technology with Kenya in a creative South-South technology transfer program. Negotiations are also underway with Monsanto to transfer to Mexico the critical gene conferring resistance to potato leaf roll virus (PLRV). Resistance to PLRV is judged to be an essential complementary element required by the potato variety, Rosita, which has already been transformed for resistance to potato viruses X and Y (PVX/PVY). Both Rosita and other transgenic potato varieties are being advanced to field trials with a view to accelerating the approval and release of a version of Rosita that will resist PVX, PVY, and PLRV.

• The initial 10 focus countries have expanded to include Vietnam, permitting ISAAA to work more closely with all developing countries within ASEAN. This organization has endorsed and can facilitate the early establishment of the SEAsiaCenter.

• Similarly, ISAAA operations in Africa and Latin America have cost-effectively responded to the common needs of nontarget countries when ISAAA was judged to have comparative advantage and where a compelling need could be addressed with only a marginal increase in effort. Thus, Argentina and Uganda have already benefited from ISAAA services and are anxious to continue the collaboration.

• China continues to be of great interest to ISAAA, which will respond to the Chinese invitation to initiate a collaborative program as soon as the SEAsiaCenter is well established.

• Last, but certainly not least, a major initiative was launched to strengthen the ISAAA Biotechnology Fellowship Program. We believe that this investment in human capital is vital, because building capacity in biotechnology in developing countries is a prerequisite for sustained research capacity.

1995 Board Meeting, Nairobi, Kenya

In keeping with the practice of rotating the venue of its annual Board meetings, ISAAA scheduled its 1995 meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. Board members appreciated the opportunity of reviewing at first hand the impressive portfolio of projects developed by Dr. Florence Wambugu, Director of ISAAA's AfriCenter. For assessing biotechnology needs, there is no substitute for visits to smallholders' fields or discussions with national program staff and government, university, and private sector representatives. Noteworthy was the strong support voiced by both public and private sectors for biotechnology in Kenya. The Kenyan government views biotechnology, and its transfer, as a high priority and an essential element in the national agricultural plan for ensuring future food security.

The exchange of views in Kenya clearly demonstrated the benefits associated with scheduling Board meetings in developing countries. A pragmatic assessment emerged of both the opportunities and the constraints that biotechnology offers Africa. One particularly valuable window of opportunity that has opened is the possibility of initiating a cost-effective and appropriate training and biotechnology transfer program with South Africa. There is a strong political will to engage in this biotechnology transfer program, which could involve a reciprocal human resource development program and allow South Africa to share its rich and appropriate source of biotechnology applications, especially tissue culture and diagnostics, with ISAAA's target countries in eastern and southern Africa.

The orderly rotation of Board members, endorsed by the External Review and initiated last year, continued in 1995. Dr. Gordon Goodman, Dr. Francesco Salamini, and Mr. Tom Wahman, all founding members of the Board, graciously agreed to step down after four years of committed service to ISAAA. On behalf of the Board it is a pleasure to thank them for their sterling service to ISAAA, which I am confident will continue to benefit from their unswerving support in the future. It gives me great pleasure to welcome three equally committed and able new members to ISAAA's Board: Dr. Cyrus Ndiritu, Director, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Kenya; Dr. William Padolina, Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology, the Philippines; and Dr. Gabrielle Persley, an Australian national who is the Science Adviser/Biotechnology Manager at the World Bank, Washington, DC, USA.

In closing, let me take this opportunity, on behalf of the Board and Management, to warmly thank all members of ISAAA's generous donor support group for their continuing support and vote of confidence. The External Review stressed that it was critical for ISAAA to replenish its financial resources from current donors as well as to diversify its donor support group. Both initiatives have been assigned high priority by the Board, and the Executive Director, with the assistance of Board members, is now actively engaged in replenishment dialogues with principal donors and in encouraging discussions with several important potential donors. Continued support from current donors is not only a vote of confidence in the organization, it is a prerequisite and the best catalyst for facilitating the diversification and expansion of the donor support group. Sustained and growing support will ensure that developing countries can continue to participate in a biotechnology transfer program that is at its most critical stage, when important biotechnology applications are being applied at the farm level to major crops on a large scale in several industrialized countries. Failure to provide adequate support at this time would deny ISAAA's developing country partners the opportunity to benefit from the significant near-term impact of biotechnology. There is a consensus in the scientific and international development community that biotechnology is an essential element for increasing food, feed, and fiber productivity in the future, and this view is consistent with the view of developing country partners, such as Kenya, which has voiced its unfailing support and commitment to biotechnology as a high priority in Kenya's future agricultural research and food security strategy.

Clive James