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ORIGIN
Symposium.
The world-wide Symposium on Plant Biotechnology for
Developing Countries organized by FAO and CTA held in
June 1989 in Luxembourg, recommended that biotechnology
should be applied in developing countries in order to
solve problems in which conventional methodologies have
shown limited success, and where there are grounds to
believe that emerging research at the molecular and
cellular levels can solve fundamental problems in food
crops production. Biotechnological tools and methods
should constitute part of any multidisciplinary approach
applied primarily to the genetic improvement of useful
plants. In this case, the importance of determining
and assigning priority to the most important problems
that require solutions and for which advanced plant
biotechnology is appropriate and applicable in the developing
countries, should he emphatically demonstrated.
The elaboration of strategies and policies for assistance
to national programs in Latin America and the Caribbean
in the determination of their own times of biotechnological
research constitutes a priority within the previous
context. Among them, the establishment of information
and cooperation networks is an indispensable tool within
policies for biotechnological development.
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Planning
Meeting.
During the planning meeting on Appropriate Biotechnology
for Crop Production organized in Campinas, Sao Paulo,
Brazil, from 20 to 24 November l989, organized by the
FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
and where the idea of REDBIO network was originated,
a recommendation was made to FAO to analyse the bases
for the establishment
of a
technical
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cooperation
network among plant biotechnology laboratories. The
purpose of the network would be to balance the potentials
of the countries of the Region in advanced biotechnology
for its application to the solution of specific plant
production problems. It was recommended to establish
a program for the development of plant biotechnology
including, among other aspects, a directory of human
resources, an inventory of plant biotechnology laboratories,
an analysis of the interactions and trends in terms
of priorities, species and technologies that could permit
defining levels of excellence and reference services.
The purpose of registering biotechnology laboratories
would be to establish focal points as centers for cooperation
projects and programs. The recommendation also included
establishing information activities such as the publication
of a periodic circular letter, the collection and publication
of plant biotechnology protocols, interconnection and
access to data banks and workshops in priority subjects
on applied plant biotechnology.
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Regional
Survey.
The results of the 1990 regional survey included data
on 173 laboratories in 17 countries of Latin America
and the Caribbean.The private sector constituted 27%
of the laboratories. Data revealed that human resources
were 1,150 technicians with 1,500 projects in operation,
560 publications and the supervision of 537 theses in
the last three years. The survey also revealed that
equipment and infrastructure do not constitute the main
constraints. The factors that most affect the development
and application of plant biotechnology in food crops
and plant protection are:
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The need for training in advanced plant biotechnology,
molecular biology, cell and tissue culture applied to
genetic improvement and methodologies for the diagnosis
of food crop diseases.
- A limited operating budget.
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The pressing need to establish a technical cooperation
network on information and research for developing training
activities and production projects in applied plant
biotechnology.
The
FAO survey revealed that international financing only
represents 27% of the total budget of the laboratories.
Based on the results of the survey, FAO prepared a catalogue
(CATBIO) of the surveyed laboratories. During 1991,
an updating of the network information called CATBIO
1.0 containing information on 221 laboratories in 18
countries was carried out, and a version in diskettes
for PC computers was prepared. A revised version (CATBIO
2.0) was prepared in 1994 and is available upon request.
It includes data on 327 laboratories in 24 countries
and has incorporated information on animal biotechnology.
At present (1998) the main network data bank contains
information (CATBIO 5.0) of 535 laboratories from 27
countries of the Region.
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