Asian giants India and China are accelerating investment in biotechnology research to fight the odds in agriculture and feed their teeming millions, say scientists and officials.
Scientists at a workshop in one of Indias biggest gene research centres in Patencheru in southern Andhra Pradesh state said China and India accounted for more than half the developing world's expenditure on plant biotechnology.
Margarita Escaler of the US-based International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications said the Asian giants were putting the emphasis on genetically modified (GM) seeds and technology to ensure their billion-plus populations have enough to eat.
"There are around 50 public research units in India and they make investments of 15 million dollars per year while private spending in India on agri-biotech research amounts to over 10 million dollars annually," said Escaler.
"In China, funding for agri-biotech research comes entirely from the government and China is only second now to the United States in research investment. China invested 112 million dollars in biotechnology research in 1999 - that figure will grow by 400 percent in 2005," she forecast.
At the moment, India has not approved any genetically modified food for commercialisation or consumption. But Indian state-run laboratories are pumping millions of dollars into developing 22 different food items ranging from protein-rich potatoes, rice to groundnut.
Scientists expect the GM groundnut to get Indian government approval for commercialisation by 2007. Groundnut yields the staple edible oil in India. The shifts in China and India appear to be at odds with the widespread rejection of GM technology in many other countries, particularly in Europe.
Biotech advocates say genetic modification boosts output, cuts costs and can improve nutrition. But critics including environmental group Greenpeace fear the environmental impact and worry GM foods may have long-term effects on health.
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics based in Patencheru, near Andhra Pradeshs state capital Hyderabad, is likely to give the world its first GM groundnut. China also has an active groundnut breeding programme.
In neighbouring China, of 353 applications between 1996 and 2000 for approval of field trials, environmental releases or commercialisation of GM plants and animals, 141 were given the go-ahead by the Chinese Office of Genetic Engineering Safety Administration.
Transgenic rice resistant to three major pests - stem borer, planthopper and bacterial leaf blight - have passed two years of environmental release trials. This could hold the key to food security for the rice growing countries in Asia, say scientists.