A Framework for Policy-Making on Trade, Agricultural Biotechnology and Sustainable Development

ICTSD Technical Note

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Biotechnology is transforming the processes and the products of agricultural research, as well as the institutional and economic environment of agricultural technology development andinnovation systems. Advances in the biological sciences are producing quantum leaps in our knowledge about the way plants and animals grow and synthesize useful products, as well as the scientistsí ability to transform them. Scientific breakthroughs in the area of genetic engineering have greatly expanded the possibilities of handling and transforming microorganisms, plants and animals. These advances are affecting agricultural practices through alternative plant breeding methods and pest control strategies, as well as the developmentof plants with enhanced agronomic traits and nutritional characteristics.

Agricultural biotechnology, and particularly as it involves genetic modification, promises a number of important benefits. These include improving agricultural yields by increasing the resistance of crops to pests and enabling them to flourish in harsh natural environments, improving the productivity of farmers, and reducing pesticide use. While these benefits have largely been confined to the agricultural sector, and the immediate physical environment surrounding it, future technological advances may yield additional benefits, including the
development of foods that improve the health of consumers.

At the same time, concerns have been raised about the potential negative impacts of genetic modification. From an environmental perspective, critics note the possibility of cross-pollination and gene flows to traditional varieties and the inability of regulatory systems to adequately manage the trade in genetically modified (GM) seeds in a way that ensures their segregation from traditional
varieties. With respect to development impacts, scepticism has been expressed about the ability of agricultural biotechnology to fulfill its promise, given the trends such as lack of focus on the development of crops and traits that would meet the needs of resource poor farmers, difficulty of poorer groups in accessing technologies protected by patents, and the potential for biotechnology innovations to displace traditional agriculture.
Agricultural biotechnology thus poses particular challenges and opportunities for regulators and policy-makers. In itself, however, it is neither good nor bad: agricultural biotechnology is merely a tool that, in order to serve sustainable development, should be oriented towards economic, social, environmental and other public policy objectives. Countries must define their broad agricultural and development policy objectives and only then determine whether, how or to what extent the development and adoption of GM technologies and products can facilitate them. In this regard, there is a range of needs and priorities that regulators and policy-makers may have to take into account and balance in their choices.

These needs and priorities include promoting food security, reducing agricultural poverty, increasing access to global markets, improving environmental quality and the welfare of agricultural workers, protecting biodiversity, improving public health through safer or healthier foods and encouraging the domestic development of research and development. Establishing an adequate approach to agricultural biotechnology - addressing and balancing the different needs, priorities, and objectives in national, regional, and international instruments and policies - is a complex task.
Developing countries have particularly struggled to develop policies and regulations that consider and respond to the specific challenges and opportunities posed by agricultural biotechnology. The need for such policies and regulations, however, is mounting. For the most part, developing countries do not produce GM crops, but the importation of such crops and derived products is increasingly widespread. Efforts are thus underway to evaluate the implications on their respective economies, environment, and societies, and to adopt the policies that will orient the use of agricultural  biotechnology towards national, regional, and international sustainable development goals.
The objective of this report is to identify the particular policy and regulatory considerations and options for developing countries in connection with the development and commercialization of GM technologies and products. In addition, this report aims to examine some of the policy-making processes that facilitate the review of these considerations and options. After this introduction, Section II explores the distinctive issues raised by agricultural biotechnology in developing countries, and describes the different options and considerations for relevant regulations and policies. Section III provides case studies on the way a number of countries, both developed and developing, have addressed the various promotional and regulatory issues posed by GM technologies and products. Section IV then elaborates a series of frameworks that should enable policy-makers to think through the various policy issues and options raised by agricultural biotechnology. Section V focuses on public participation, an important component in the design, implementation and monitoring of an agricultural biotechnology framework.
Section VI concludes the paper with some final analysis and remarks.

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