Researchers Expect More Biotech Crops to be Commercialized in Bangladesh

The Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2017 (ISAAA Brief 53) was presented to over 70 members of the academe and students at the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh, Bangladesh on September 9, 2018.  Dr. Rhodora R. Aldemita, ISAAA Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology Director, and Mr. Bhagirath Choudhary of ISAAA-South Asia Biotech Center (SABC) presented the highlights of the report. They stressed that Bangladesh, one of the developing countries in Asia, has approved biotech crops and acknowledges biotechnology's potential in feeding the hungry and malnourished population of Bangladesh.

Chief Guest Prof. Dr. Md. Ali Akbar, the Vice Chancellor of BAU also mentioned ongoing research initiatives on Golden Rice, late blight resistant potato, and Bt cotton. With the strong government support and wide acceptance of biotech crops in the country, researchers at BAU were optimistic that Bangladesh will be commercializing these crops in the near future, much ahead from the other partner countries. Inquiries on how to deal with critics, food and environmental safety that surfaced from the discussion were addressed by some professors of the university, as well as by the speakers from ISAAA and SABC.

For more information, contact knowledge.center@isaaa.org.