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Biotech Opens Doors to Andean Development |
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By Humberto Márquez *
Colombia, Peru and Venezuela are the Andean vanguard in exploiting biodiversity for biotechnology, a global market that moves more than 90 billion dollars annually.
CARACAS - The aid of the sweet potato for fighting vitamin A deficiency in Africa, and a biological agent that fights molds that attack roses and bean crops are just a few examples of how biotechnology is being used to make the most -- socially and economically -- of the Andean region's biodiversity.
The countries of the Andean Community "hold great wealth of biological diversity and native species, and modern biotechnology offers the opportunity to turn it into an element of economic and social development through its valuation, sustainable use and conservation," according to a study by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and CAF, the Andean regional development agency.
CAF is the financial arm of the Andean Community, which comprises Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
The biofungicide discovered by Guillermo Castellanos, of the Colombian International Center for Tropical Agriculture, CIAT, is an extract of swinglea (Swinglea glutinosa), an African tree introduced in Colombia by sugarcane producers to be used as a living fence.
Castellanos noticed that the swinglea plants were free of pathogens, and came up with an extract of the tree that effectively fights Erysiphe polygoni and other molds that affect beans, roses, coffee and the Isabella grape.
He made the discovery two decades ago, "but at the time the agro-chemists were in charge," Castellanos has said. Farmers have begun using his extract in recent years on bean crops, but also on fields of roses, one of Colombia's top export products and source of some 140,000 jobs.
The Peruvian sweet potato (Ipomoea batata) is rich in vitamin A. Deficiency of this vitamin is a risk factor for pregnant women and is a major cause of infant mortality across much of the African continent.
For this reason the International Potato Center (CIP for its name in Spanish), based in La Molina, in the outskirts of Lima, has joined the Vitaa program, or Vitamin A for Africa, seeking improved varieties of sweet potato, of better quality and resistant to pests.
The CIP holds the seeds of 5,000 potato varieties, 6,500 sweet potato varieties, and 1,300 other edible roots and tubers, Marc Ghislain, a biotech specialist with the center, told Tierramérica.
The Peruvian institution "helped in the recovery of the seed collections that were destroyed in Afghanistan, participates in a program for bringing resistant sweet potatoes to the lands salinized by last year's tsunami in Asia, and is planning to send seeds to North Korea to help confront its food crisis," he said.
Colombia, Peru and Venezuela are the Andean vanguard in the use of biotechnology in the sustainable exploitation of their biodiversity, with Bolivia and Ecuador lagging a bit behind, perhaps because of their complicated political situations, says Roberto López, head of sustainable development for CAF, which alongside ECLAC conducted a study of the biotech sector in the region.
In the Andean countries "there is a gap between what is being done in the universities and research centers, and the requirements and trends of the markets. The efforts of institutions like ours aim to create bridges between them," beginning by identifying areas of potential, López told Tierramérica.
The five nations of the Andean Community are among the 10 most biodiverse countries on the planet. In Colombia alone there are 45,000 varieties of flowering plants, and in Peru there are 1,703 species of birds.
The barely tapped potential of Andean biodiversity stands before markets that, according to a study by Fernando Quezada for CAF, last year moved more than 90 billion dollars, including sales of medicines (including vaccines) for humans and livestock, for around 41 billion dollars, but also of cosmetics and personal care products, especially for the skin.
On top of this are the burgeoning markets for herbal medicines and functional foods (for specific ends), which mobilized around 20 billion dollars in 2004; agricultural biotech (from seeds to biopesticides), with four billion dollars; and at lesser volumes, industrial enzymes, biogenetics (databases and software on genetics), and electronic bioconductors, a sector that is growing by 40 percent annually.
The basic knowledge existing about living organisms covers 91 percent of 45,000 vertebrates and 85 percent of 270,000 plants, but less than seven percent of 72,000 fungi and less than one percent of 8,000 bacteria and viruses.
The Andean governments "have available the public policy instruments for supporting the development of biotech," and at CAF, "were we have begun to get our feet wet" in this area, experts are identifying the areas where it is essential to take action, said López.
These areas include support for the scientific and technological communities, and the development of human resources. Both require budgetary measures and promotion of research and development, but also stimulus for marketing the products and the search for international strategic alliances, he said.
The Andean governments understand that the exchange of information and experiences is vital for sustaining their possibilities, but also have set up regulations to ensure their sovereignty over their biological resources, an element that has emerged in the negotiations of a free trade agreement with the United States, López explained.
* Humberto Márquez is an IPS correspondent. Abraham Lama contributed reporting from Peru.
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