Potential of Crop Bioengineering to Catalyze International Development

Crop bioengineering opens the floodgates to opportunities for crop improvement. However its success depends to a large extent on how effectively the global scientific community and the public and the private sectors can harness together its power and other allied fields of genomics and bioinformatics for the world's poor. In Crop bioengineering: Enormous potential for catalyzing international development published in Agriculture for Development, Peter Gregory of Cornell University and Stanley Kowalski of the Franklin Pierce Law Center, USA, say that: "This in turn depends on the extent to which projects are demand-driven and holistic in approach, integrating all technical and non-technical factors relevant to the product development and commercialization/delivery chain."  Strong emphasis must be placed on inter-institutional collaboration and focused and sustained capacity building at both human and institutional levels.

Successful distribution of bioengineered crops requires a communication strategy that provides regular and accurate information about them to various stakeholders. Gregory and Kowalski conclude that this will facilitate public acceptance and continued development of bioengineered crops.

For more information contact Peter Gregory at pg46@cornell.edu or Stanley Kowalski at skowalski@piercelaw.edu.