February 19, 2003

The promises and potential of biotechnology are not equally shared between developed and developing countries, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization Assistant Director-General Louise Fresco said in a statement. She warned of a "molecular divide", saying that "the gap between rich and poor farmers, between research priorities and needs, and between technology development and actual technology transfer, is widening."

To bridge the molecular divide, "biotechnology must be redirected to address the pressing needs of the poor and the new requirements for food quality and quantity and new agricultural products."

An open dialogue should be ensured on the benefits and risks of biotechnologies, she said. Poor countries and farmers should have access to genetic resources and to the technologies and means to use them.

"There are currently no serious investments in any of the five most important crops in the semi-arid tropics - sorghum, millet, pigeon pea, chickpea and groundnut," said Fresco, who heads FAO's Agriculture Department.

"This is largely because 70% of the agricultural biotechnology investments are by multinational private sector research, mostly in developed or advanced developing countries. Today 85% of all plantings of transgenic crops globally are herbicide-resistant soybean, insect-resistant maize and genetically improved cotton varieties, designed to reduce input and labour costs in large scale production systems, not to feed the developing world or increase food quality," Fresco said.

"There are no major public sector programs to tackle more critical problems of the poor and the environment or targeting crops such as cassava or small ruminants."