Importance of bio-safety rules

Nature has bestowed us with arable land as our principal natural resource; however, only 25% of the total land area is under cultivation. Agriculture accounts for about 27% of GDP and employs more than 60% of the labour force; therefore, it is justified to say that agriculture remains the largest sector in the Pakistani economy.
This sector is dominated by the crop, sub-sector with a share of 60%; followed by the livestock sub-sector with a share of 36%; and fisheries with a share of 3.5%.
Pakistan boasts the largest contiguous irrigation system in the world, making cultivation possible in semi-arid regions of the country; however Pakistan currently faces shortfall in water supply.
Our most important crops include wheat, cotton, and rice, which together account for almost 75% of total crop output by value. Intensive farming practices have enabled Pakistan to become a net food exporter of rice, fruits and vegetables.
The investment policy of the Government of Pakistan has opened up the agriculture sector for foreign corporate investment; by holding a conference "Punjab Agribusiness Conference 2004" at Lahore; which was hosted by the Government of Punjab.
The aim of the conference was to provide first hand information about investment opportunities in the agribusiness sector in Punjab to gain an insight into the present government policies and to learn from the private sectors experience of doing business in Pakistan.
Modern biotechnology offers powerful new tools for improving agricultural productivity, environmental quality, and the nutritional quality of staple foods. At the same time, some applications of genetic engineering raise concerns of safety, access, and equity in benefits.
It is worth knowing that the most widespread application of genetic engineering in agriculture by far is in engineered crops. Thousands of such products have been field- tested and over a dozen have been approved for commercial use in many parts of the world.
The traits most commonly introduced into crops are herbicide tolerance, insect tolerance, and virus tolerance.
Bio-safety guidelines are the rules to regulate the safe development of Biotechnology products and their safe application for human and animal health, plants and environment.
The enactment of biosafety guidelines will essentially set-up legal requirements for import, export, transport, and handling of genetic engineering seeds, crops and foods, besides setting the conditions for the commercial companies and researchers, in the field of health, agriculture, environment etc.
In January 2001, a draft of Bio-safety guidelines was prepared by our prominent scientists, since then it has undergone several reviews and re-examined by a number of national and international experts. But unfortunately, the guidelines are still waiting for approval from the Ministry of Environment.
It also noteworthy that to show its growing world-wide interest in the biotech trade under WTO rules and regulations Pakistan has signed many international agreements that would impact our future trading mode and technology transfer like Biosafety Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the Cartagena Protocol of Bio-safety so on and investors are judging as to how we are going to meet our obligations with the international community.
Although the government of Pakistan has invested millions of rupees in the development of indigenous Biotech crops like Bt Cotton, Bt Rice and Bt Tomato etc at NIBGE (Faisalabad) and CEMB (Lahore); however these crops could not be stated fit for cultivation in the absence of biosafety guidelines, since the evaluation of these Bt crop varieties cannot be ascertained unless these are released and tested in the field.
Dr Kauser Abdulla Malik (Member Biosciences PAEC) has been on record saying that in recent years 60 projects worth Rs 950 million have been approved in the field of Agriculture Biotechnology.
Dr Anwar Nasim (Chairman, National Commission on Biotechnology) has time and again highlighted the absence of biosafety guidelines as the major stumbling block that is halting foreign and local investors in agricultural biotechnology.
Investment in agricultural biotechnology is not about quick profits; this is a long-term investment. Investors are beginning to see their investments in genetically modified organisms in different countries pay off.
Harnessing foreign investors in crop biotechnology and its applications for the benefit of the poor will require considerable attention in many areas including- allocation of additional public resources to agricultural research; capacity-building of the public sector in biotech R&D; public education; policies and transparent regulatory frameworks on biosafety, food safety, intellectual property rights (IPRs), and plant breeders' rights, seeds acts; and stronger public-private sector will attract both international and local investors in modern agriculture businesses in Pakistan.