USDA Identifies Factors that Stalled Biotech Crop Commercialization in Egypt

Several factors that include politics, lack of institutional development, and mistakes on the commercial side, have caused the delay in commercial planting approval for Mon 810 in Egypt. According to a USDA-Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) GAIN report, though Egypt has relatively advanced research and development in biotechnology applications, the general public awareness about the technology is still very limited.  

Egyptian government leaders and policy makers recognize the importance of biotechnology as a tool for national and global development and have yet to create a national legislation on biotech. Several ministries control policy decisions in the country. The Ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Higher Education and Scientific Research control almost all food policy decisions while  the Ministries of Foreign Trade and Industry, Supply and Home Trade, and Finance control the flow of food imports and exports through Egypt. The report narrates several USDA supported projects  that will help Egypt establish a competent regulatory authority and to set a system for practical biotechnology applications.

For more details, the USDA-FAS GAIN Report Number EG9012 is available at http://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/Biotechnology_Cairo_Egypt_7-15-2009.pdf