Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries

The document examines the role of agricultural biotechnology in meeting future food demands in developing countries, contrasting the market-driven approach of transnational corporations (TNCs) with the needs of small-scale farmers. It argues that while GM technology can improve yields and nutritional content, its success depends on an 'enabling environment' consisting of R&D capacity, functional biosafety regulatory regimes, and clear biotechnology policies. The authors highlight significant obstacles, including the high cost of biosafety compliance, intellectual property rights (IPR) restrictions, and trade conflicts between the EU and USA. It recommends that donor agencies like Sida focus on institutional capacity building, particularly for 'GM-local crops' developed by public sector institutions to benefit the poor.

• Six transnational agro-chemical corporations (TNCs)—Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, DuPont, Dow, and BASF—dominate the global GM crop arena, focusing primarily on high-profit global crops for industrialised markets rather than local crops essential for small-scale farmers in developing countries.
• The development of 'GM-local crops' (such as cassava, yam, and cooking banana) depends heavily on public sector R&D, but these efforts are often hindered by inadequate implementation capacity, unclear policies, and high compliance costs for biosafety approval.
• Biosafety in developing countries is often broader than in OECD countries, extending beyond environmental and health safety to include the socio-economic impact on rural communities and small-scale farmers, which increases the complexity and resource requirements of assessments.
• The European Union's precautionary approach and strict labelling and traceability regulations (effective April 2004) have led many developing countries to adopt a 'wait and see' attitude to avoid jeopardising agricultural exports to the EU.
• Intellectual property rights (IPR) and patents held by TNCs and Western institutions restrict access to GM technology; however, public-private partnerships and Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) are proposed as mechanisms to facilitate technology transfer to poor farmers.
• Potential environmental risks of GM agriculture include gene flow to wild relatives in 'centres of origin', the creation of 'superweeds' through herbicide tolerance, and negative impacts on non-target organisms.
• The use of Gene Use Restriction Technology (GURT), or 'Terminator Technology', is highly controversial in developing countries because it makes seeds sterile, preventing the traditional practice of seed saving by small-scale farmers.
• For Sida's support to be effective, it should target four capacity areas: R&D for local crops, functional biosafety regulatory regimes, biotechnology policy regimes focused on the poor, and structures for handling IPR and product development partnerships.

APA

Bhagavan, M., & Virgin, I. (2004). Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Risk-livelihoods/SEI_Bhagavan_Biotechnology_2004.pdf

Chicago

Bhagavan, M.R., and I. Virgin. Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2004. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Risk-livelihoods/SEI_Bhagavan_Biotechnology_2004.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bhagavan |first1=M.R. |last2=Virgin |first2=I. |title=Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2004 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Risk-livelihoods/SEI_Bhagavan_Biotechnology_2004.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bhagavan2004agricultural, author = {Bhagavan, M.R. and Virgin, I.}, title = {{Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2004}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Risk-livelihoods/SEI_Bhagavan_Biotechnology_2004.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }