SANTO DOMINGO "Early last century, the prevailing theme was the territorial defense, which resulted developing world wars, but now the problem is based on prevailing issues are very closely inter: warming global power generation through cleaner mechanisms to prevent damage to the ozone layer and increasing the population to the lack of food and water.
The beginning of 2008 showed the consolidation of population growth globally, led by China and India, and the sharp increase in agricultural input prices, driven mainly by rising food demand and poor harvests which world markets fell.
But the dramatic beginning of 2009 showed a different world, where concerns about food security was replaced by the urgency in resolving the financial crisis and global economic problems.
However constitute an unforgivable mistake to forget the signs that markets left us in 2008, it is estimated that by 2050 the world population would reach 9 billion people with food demand will continue to increase steadily, as expressed by Dr . Joseph R. Nunez, speaker at the conference "Genetic Engineering: Technology in the genetic improvement of crops," organized by the Consulting Education Cooperation Science and Technology (COCECYT).
"The continued growth of the food supply that occurred in the past made it seem obsolete the prediction that human population grew in geometric progression whereas food production was rising as arithmetic.
Unfortunately, today the growth of the food supply is threatened by limited availability of arable land, access to water and the negative effects that climate change may have on the overall productive potential, "said Hector Baez Tisol, CEO of COCECYT.
Recently the United Nations agency and Agriculture Organization (FAO), warned of the possibility of incurring a global food crisis due to increased agricultural output this year by the lack of credit to producers.
FAO estimates for the current year, a reduction in global grain production due to reduced plantings and to poor performance of the planted items directly proportional with the reduced use of inputs and adverse weather conditions.
With current production levels, over one billion people suffer from hunger. It will be necessary to double the yields of our crops in the next forty years to fully meet the global demand for food in 2050.
"To increase food production in a sustainable manner, optimizing the use of natural resources, one of the essential tools we have is the discipline of plant breeding.
The so-called Green Revolution is a clear example of the enormous potential of this activity, defined as the science and art applied to developing improved crops and plants, or rather can contribute gradually but support policies and other efforts, "said Nunez.
Green Revolution is the term used to describe the transformation of agriculture that began after World War II, by creating an experimental station in Mexico to develop new and improved varieties of wheat to meet demand from a growing population.
A decade after the project started, Mexico, which imported half its wheat requirements, managed to feed themselves and the end of the second decade of the project became the grain exporting country.
The success of this international initiative was later repeated in India with the wheat and the so-called "miracle rice", which became one of the most efficient countries in the production of this essential crop in the diet of the people .
Genetically engineered foods
Transgenic plants and food as such do not exist are not transfers a gene from one species to commute to another. For example some call transgenic tomato which has a slower decay process, when what we have done is to switch the gene and isolate it for longer maturing product life doing, not that it is not damaged, but the process of slower fermentation.
The initial objective for developing plants based on GM organisms was to increase crop protection through the introduction of resistance to diseases caused by insects or viruses or by plants with greater tolerance to herbicides, drought or increased levels of nutrients from food.
These contributions will be added the fact that genetic manipulation of plants will have an impact on other productive sectors: such as floriculture and landscaping, the development of chemical industry and in improving the pharmaceutical industry, because through the Plant biotechnology may change the genes of plants and thus make them less vulnerable species to natural effects such as drought, pests and therefore may have greater control over the use of pesticides and fertilizers.
These techniques are already applied in the international market for products such as corn, rapeseed, soybeans, pumpkins and potatoes developed countries like USA, Canada, Argentina, South Africa and the European Union. In the Dominican Republic are not marketed.
Increasing crop productivity over time is determined by a genetic component (new varieties or hybrids) and an environmental component (chemicals, tillage, etc.)..
When using specially designed experiments are discriminated both effects can identify the genetic gain achieved in a given period.
Thus genetic gain is the increased productivity achieved by an improvement program after one or several cycles of improvement.
Research conducted in several countries and different cultures, show that the genetic gain explains about 50% of increases in productivity of major crops during the last half century.
That is a breeding program?
A typical breeding program consists of five main activities: a) Genebank, b) Biogenetic c) Bioinformatics, d) Regulatory Issues, e) Intellectual Property.
Access to and management of germplasm or genetic basis is critical in any project of improvement in the long term and that without adequate genetic variability can not be generated genetic gain.
Therefore access to both locally adapted germplasm and exotic germplasm, knowledge of existing heterotic groups, identification of disease-tolerant materials, etc., Are key aspects of any improvement program.
The biogenetic include processes, methods and improvement strategies used by geneticists to achieve their goals.
The adoption or not certain processes or tools can explain the different results obtained by different programs.
Bioinformatics refers to the use of hardware and powerful, which allow fast and efficient storage and analysis of the huge mass of data generated by the program.
The accuracy in identifying a new cultivar superior, conducted among several thousand candidates is today a more efficient process through the development of bioinformatics.
All activities of a breeding program are regulated by government institutions. In the case of our country, and introduced the Biosafety Bill.
Intellectual property rights in plant species is an area of great importance and complexity. The world legislation shows large differences between countries in both the concepts and the forms taken to pursue the protection of varieties.
If estimates by international agencies indicate that food production must double over the next forty years to cope with population growth, comes a disturbing question: Can the genetic improvement face daunting challenge?
Experts in plant genetics, molecular biology, biotechnology and agronomy consider:
1) The genetic improvement will remain the basis and essential tool to generate the growth of future yields, which continue to rise over the coming decades at the same rates as in the recent past.
2) The biotechnology through increased supply and diffusion of GM crops, will continue to provide defensive characters such as tolerance to herbicides, diseases, pests and drought.
3) The molecular biology will facilitate the generation and management of genetic variation and selection, increasing speed and accuracy improvement processes, to achieve greater yields and increased tolerance to biotic and abiotic factors limiting the same.
4) Globalization in the evaluation and use of germplasm available and universal access to new technologies open new possibilities for growth.
What is being done in the country?
The Institute for Innovation in Biotechnology and Industry (IIBI) has conducted research projects aimed at developing management techniques of genetic engineering in plants both ornamental and the system of classifying native food species, through techniques such as open-pollinated is the most used in countries with low investment in biotechnology such as ours, but also with the system of hybridization for plant breeding.
For all these reasons, we can say that the conditions are necessary for broad genetic base, modern technology, qualified experts, and calling companies prepared to produce in the coming decades the tremendous growth that allows double the current yields and to place the country in the way of development of biotechnology research, as is happening in Cuba and other Latin American countries, but more importantly we provide a step response to the food problem in a high percentage.
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