Breakthrough in jute research
Photo: Quddus Alam / Driknews
June 17th will be a significant day for the jute industry in Bangladesh. It was the day when all dailies and the news media reported the discovery of identifying the genes of the jute cell. This discovery by Dr. Maqsudul Alam, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Hawai, USA and further research on it, can possibly help us to modify the DNA of the jute cell. This will enable the jute fibre to have improved properties, like water and fire resistant traits, among others! It can also help in having jute seeds, rot free and repellent to insects. All these developments can revive the future of Jute, and make it regain its place as the most useful and cheap fibre for all sorts of uses, that are today not even imagined! Indeed a new future awaits jute. It will increase its world demand, possibly replacing products like waterproof paper and other packaging materials like corrugated sheets, paper boards etc. This discovery will herald a very bright future of our jute industry, currently in doldrums! Dr. Alam and his team of scientists from the department of bio-technology and bio-chemistry, University of Dhaka, deserve thanks and recognition from the country, which they thoroughly deserve. Well done, gentlemen!At first , I would like to congratulate Dr. Alam for his outstanding research on jute. His research will open the new window of genetic engineering in Bangladesh. Actually, Biotechnology is called the science of 21st century. It has a tremendous potential to solve problem in agricultural sector, and can be a powerful tool to cope with the existing food insecurity. I talked with the Head of the Dept of Biotechnology (BAU)and national coordinator of ISAAA(Int'l service for the acquisition of agribiotech) Dr. K M Nasiruddin about different issues on agribiotech. He said that the ever increasing population, limited cultivatable land and increasing demand for alternative energy sources has led to increasing application of the biotechnology techniques in the Indian agricultural arena. Various research institutes and departments of the government of India and other state governments are directing their efforts to exploring and exploiting newer technologies for enhancing farm production and increasing the productivity. But here in Bangladesh the biotech issue is still under controversy. There is a lot of anti--science emotions here and Bangladesh is yet to concentrate on crop biotech. In India, with the approval of Bt-cotton for commercial cultivation in April 2002, more and more seed companies are seeking technologies like genetic modification for insect protection. There is also an increasing use of molecular markers in crop breeding. Jewel Rana, Ex-Student, Dept of Biotechnology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh
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