Biotech Updates

Bangladesh Agric Secretary Calls for GM Crop Cultivation

February 22, 2008

M. Abdul Aziz, Agriculture Secretary  of Bangladesh, stressed the need to develop and cultivate genetically modified (GM) crops in the country. He added that apart from diseases and pests, Bangladesh is severely facing problems of salinity, drought and flooding which can be addressed by developing resistant crop varieties. The Agriculture Secretary  gave these insights during two separate workshops on “Implementing National Biosafety Framework and Biosafety Guidelines of Bangladesh” and “Compliance management of confined field trials of transgenic plants” held at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), Dhaka. Both workshops were sponsored by the South Asia Biosafety Program (SABP) of AGBIOS, a Canadian company dedicated to providing public policy, regulatory, and risk assessment expertise for products of biotechnology. 

Currently, confined field trials are being done on Golden Rice, Bt Brinjal, and Late Blight Resistant Potato.

For developments on biotech developments in Bangladesh, email Dr. Khondoker Nasiruddin of the Bangladesh Biotechnology Information Center at nasirbiotech@yahoo.com.