CHINA TO BE ONE OF WORLD LEADERS IN BIOTECH
September 12, 2003
Crop Biotech Update
www.isaaa.org/kc
China hopes to be one of the world leaders in biotechnology research and a
domestic supplier of biotechnologies. Chinese policymakers consider
agricultural biotechnology as a strategic tool for improving national food
security, raising agricultural productivity, and creating a competitive
position in international agricultural markets. This is the conclusion of
Jikun Huang and Qinfang Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in an
article entitled OAgricultural Biotechnology Development and Policy in
China¹ published in AgBioForum (Vol. 5, No. 4).
ChinaE28099s position on biotechnology is a result of the perception of
policymakers that there are risks associated with reliance on imported
technologies to guarantee national food security. In addition, the current
priority setting for investments in agricultural biotechnology researchhas
been directed at commodities for which China does not have a relative
comparative advantage in international markets such as grain, cotton, and
oil crops. Hence, China is targeting products aimed at the domestic market
and in view of the needs of poorer farmers.
The researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, however, note that
many competing factors are exerting pressure on policymakers to continue
with work on GM crops. The demand of producers for better technology,
consumer desire for cheaper products, the current size and rate of increase
of research investments, and past success in developing technologies,
suggest that biotechnology will continue to have a future in China.
Other factors for biotechnology in China to succeed include investments in
research and development, and for biosafety management capacity and policy
implementation.
Read the full article online at http://www.agbioforum.org/v5n4/v5n4a01-hu
ang.htm