Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
time.in.collaboration.with.scientists.at.the.Vegetable.and.Ornamental.Plant.Institute.
of.the.Agricultural.Research.Council.(VOPI-ARC).in.South.Africa..While.negative.
publicity.surrounded.the.Kenyan.VR-sweet.potato,.a.lot.of.the.effort.in.developing.a.
biosafety.regulatory.framework.in.Kenya.came.as.result.of.this.project..It.was.used.at.
every.step.to.ine.tune.and.streamline.the.process..The.fact.that.certain.experiments.
fail.is.precisely.the.reason.why.ield.trials.are.required.to.see.whether.the.material.
holds. up. under. ield. conditions. and. that. practice. must. be. encouraged.. It. must. be.
encouraged.as.long.as.the.right.questions.are.asked.at.the.right.stage.of.development,.
that.is,.not.asking.for.food.safety.data.when.all.an.application.is.seeking.to.address.
is.a.performance.under.ield.conditions..In.January.2009,.President.Kibaki.signed.
the.Biosafety.Bill.into.law..This.heralds.a.new.era.for.Kenya,.which.already.boosts.
a.number.of.GM-products.in.the.pipeline.and.two.crops.under.CFTs,.Bt.cotton,.and.
VR-cassava.
UGANDA
t
ranSGenIc
b
anana
Bananas. are. a. major. staple. food. in. the. Great. Lakes. regions. with. per. capita. con-
sumption.estimated.at.450.kg/year..Major.production.constraints.are.due.to.weevils.
(
Cosmopilities sordidud
),. nematodes. (
Pratylenchus
. sp.,. and.
Helicotylenchus
. sp.).
and.the.fungal.(Black.Sigatoka,.fusarium.wilt),.viral.(Banana.buchy-top.virus.and.
Banana.streak.virus),.and.bacterial.(banana.bacterial.wilt).diseases.
14
.The.national.
banana.research.program.has.designed.both.short-.(germplasm.evaluation.for.resis-
tance,.importation.of.hybrids,.and.propagation.of.clean.planting.materials).and.long-
term. (development. of. transgenic. materials). strategies. to. address. these. problems..
Through. an. Agricultural. Biotechnology. Support. Project. II. (ABSPII). partnership.
with,.the.Catholic.University.of.Leuven.(KUL),.the.University.of.Leeds,.the.United.
Kingdom,.and.the.Ugandan.National.Agricultural.Research.Organization.(NARO).
transgenic.banana.carrying.the.rice.antifungal.chitinase.resistance.gene,.RCG3,.to.
control.Black.Sigatoka,.and.a.maize.cystatin.gene.and.other.nematicidal.genes.have.
also.been.developed.and.are.being.evaluated..To.date,.a.CFT.for.banana.with.fun-
gal. resistance. to. Black. Sigatoka. is. being. conducted. at. the. Kawanda. Agricultural.
Research.Institute,.National.Agricultural.Research.Laboratory.(NARL)..The.NARL.
also.has.other.transgenic.bananas.in.the.pipeline,.namely,.banana.biofortiied.with.
provitamin. A,. zinc,. and. iron,. banana. with. a. cell. cycle. regulatory. gene. for. rapid.
growth,.and.banana.with.bacterial.wilt-.or.weevil-resistance.
ONGOING PROJECTS
The. ABSPII. located. at. Cornell. University,. United. States,. in. collaboration. with.
Malian.scientists.engineered.a.gene.for.resistance.to.potyviruses.from.pepper.(Pvr1).
into.tomato.(http://www.absp2.cornell.edu/projects)..Furthermore,.they.are.breeding.
tomato.with.resistance.to.the.tomato.yellow.leaf.curl.virus.(TYLCV),.with.the.goal.
of. backcrossing. the. resistance. genes. into. locally. preferred. varieties. with. the. inal.
product.containing.both.conventionally.bred.resistance.to.TYLCV.and.genetically.
engineered.resistance.to.the.potyvirus.
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