Biotechnology in agricultural improvement
Photo: Shafiq Islam / driknews
Some people say that conventional breeding techniques alone may be sufficient to increase the yield of food grains to feed the growing population of Bangladesh. But do they take the rapidly changing climate and increasing incidence of natural disasters, such as sudden flood or drought, decreasing availability of farmlands or declining water availability on earth's surface into account? Many of these problems were not as intense in the past as now. And certainly, these will be more intensified in future. So, predictions based on extrapolations of data from the past and simply from theoretical yields may turn out to be false and may put the nation in a formidable crisis. In a country like Bangladesh, where 65% of labour force is still engaged in agriculture, what else could be more important than agriculture? And, biotechnology holds the promise of innovative improvement in agriculture. Rice lacks some essential amino acids, is poor in protein content, does not have vitamin A and contains insignificant amount of minerals such as iron. Is it a Balanced Diet? Biotechnology provides us with the means to make rice more nutritious. How will we face this changing food demand? Do we know about the current trends of agriculture in other countries? While 23 countries planted commercialised biotech crops in 2007, an additional 29 countries, in total 52, have granted regulatory approvals for biotech crops to import. Are we ready to be in line with the moving world? We are already late. We should start moving just now.
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