World population will be nearly 9 billion by 2050, according to a FAO report, needs multiplying the agricultural production in commensurate to increase in the global population. In view of increasing urbanization and a decrease in arable land, vertical increase in crop productivity is required by using all possible technologies related to sustainable agriculture. It is in this context that use of biotechnology in agriculture has become of prime importance.
This was the main theme of a two-day workshop on "Plant Biotechnology for Food Security" organized at FC College University in collaboration with Pakistan Biotechnology Information Center (PABIC) Lahore Chapter.
The researches being conducted at FC College were highlighted by Dr Kauser Abdulla Malik, the main organizer of the workshop, who reported the development of transgenic wheat with increased bioavailability of iron and zinc. Both these elements are essential to overcome malnutrition. Similarly, wheat has been developed with an increased ability to take up fertilizers. CropLife Pakistan and International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) also collaborated for the event.
At the inaugural session of the workshop, ISAAA's 53rd annual brief on "Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops in 2017" was also launched in Pakistan.
Ayesha Aslam, Manager PABIC Lahore Chapter also presented the highlights of the brief mentioning that Pakistan has ranked at number 7 in the top 10 biotech countries by planting biotech cotton on 3.0 million hectares. Dr Farzana Altaf Shah, Director General Environment Protection Agency Pakistan (PAK-EPA) was the Chief Guest for the event. Around 25 plant biotechnologists from FCCU, NUST, BZU Multan Campus, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Quaid-e-Azam University, NIBGE, NIGAB, SBS and CEMB-Punjab University participated as speakers and presented their ongoing research work. Representatives from CropLife Pakistan, Auriga and Four Brothers group also participated as speakers.
A total of around 200 people (researchers, students and corporate people) have attended the workshop from different organizations across the country. The workshop agenda was to emphasize that Pakistan is a developing country and agriculture is its most important sector due to its primary commitment of providing healthy food to the fast-growing population and also because the growth of economy highly depends on the growth of agriculture. Much effort is needed to narrow the gap between population growth and domestic food production and for managing food security in Pakistan which can only be done with the use of modern technologies. Workshop themes were designed keeping the agenda in mind, themes were: Bio-fertilizers, Transgenics, Genomics/ OMICS, Bio-safety Regulations, Biotech Commercialization and Biotech IPR.
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