Global soil regions,biotech and yields,Agricultural Biotechnology Investment,Biotech and Nigeria’s Future

1. Global Perspectives on
Agricultural Biotechnology
By Gary R. Blumenthal
At IITA
Ibadan, Nigeria
31 August 2009

2. Speaker’s Biases
• Desktop Farmer (Information products)
• Fundamental S&D; Policy Overlay
• Since 1980
• Global Analysts
• Clients
• Multinationals: ABC’s, Inputs
• Food Processors
• Financial Institutions
• Hedge Funds
• Farmers/Cooperatives
• Consulting Projects

3. Quiz
a. Selective Breeding
b. Genetically modified
via biotechnology
c. Nollywood

8. “African countries need to think and
operate as stakeholders, rather than
accepting the „victim mentality‟ created in
Europe.”
Florence Wambugu ISAAA

9. Biotech and
Yields
•U.S. yields outpace
EU
•Productivity
+4.4%/year
•GM Wheat
agreement

10. Agricultural Investment
• Food processing
has captured
just 10% of
cross-border
investment;
• Production
agriculture
received just
0.0006%

11. Ag Biotechnology Investment
• US$8.6 billion Venture
capital investment in life
sciences in 2007.
• One-third of all venture
capital in U.S., Canada and
Sweden in life sciences.

12. Efficient Regulatory
Management
High cost of
regulatory
compliance is Components
one of the
reasons
• National Biosafety Policy
delaying
release of • Regulatory Regime (objective)
events in • Transparent Administrative system
developing
• Public Awareness and Participation
countries.
• System for Follow-up
FAO

13. 2-5 years,
all new
crops.
Excessive
regulation
has its
impact.

14. Publicly Supported GM Field Trials

15. Pace Grows Exponentially
1,000,000,000
Single
molecule?
100,000,000 Massively
parallel
sequencing Short-read
10,000,000 sequencers
1,000,000 Microwell
Capillary pyrosequenc
ing
100,000 sequencing
Second-
10,000 Gel-based generation
systems capillary
Automated sequencer
1,000 First-
Manual Slab Slab Gel
generation
Gel
100 capillary

16. Still Debating Last Century’s
Technology
Metabolic Pathway Engineering
Synthetic Biology
Nanotechnology
Transgenics
Mutagenisis
Cloning
Selective Breeding and Hybridization

17. Biotech and Nigeria’s Future
• Hunger
• Health/Output Traits
President
Yar’adua: • Disease/Insect/Herbicide Resistance
Not just food • Nitrogen Fixing
security but
agriculture as a
• Drought Resistance
major foreign
exchange
• Salinity Tolerance
earner by 2020. • Climate Change (both GHG reduction and
adaptation)
• Energy

18. Conclusions

19. Thank you.