Summary for Position Paper

Download the full document

This document presents the position of the International Centre for Underutilised Crops on the relationship between underutilised plant species and biotechnology. It is intended for a wide audience, including policy makers, funding agencies, biotechnology specialists and workers generally interested in the enhanced use of these taxa.

Rapidly developing biotechnology applications receive large amounts of investment designed to improve major crop species. Such applications could also be used to promote underutilised plant species in low-income countries in innovative and more efficient ways. However, considerable investment would be required in many cases, a cost that must be weighed against the limited resources available overall for underutilised plant species promotion. In order to bring real practical benefits, it is therefore crucial to focus biotechnology applications on issues where such approaches are really relevant.

Through database searches we determined whether good examples exist of biotechnology being practically applied to enhance underutilised plant species use. We concluded that such approaches have proven relevant in some areas of activity, especially in tissue culture and micropropagation. In other areas, however, benefits remain inconclusive, with a lack of integrated thinking limiting application. An example is the limited practical deployment of results from genetic diversity characterisation studies. In some cases, it is still too early to understand how relevant biotechnology will be for the promotion of underutilised plant species, but emerging lessons from major crops, key underutilised species and other groups of plant taxa will be important.

We also address here the limitations and risks associated with applying biotechnology to underutilised plant species, highlighting technology centralisation, intellectual property protection and genetic bottlenecks as important concerns. We consider what should be done in the future to ensure that biotechnology will be better applied to underutilised plant species, and emphasise the importance of partnerships between the different stakeholders involved in promotional activities. We also stress the need for rigorously monitored case studies that determine the actual benefits realised during the deployment of biotechnology approaches.

We conclude that the involvement of the International Centre for Underutilised Crops in promoting particular biotechnology activities for underutilised plant species should depend on five key issues:

• Whether projects pay proper attention to the integration of biotechnology activities within the wider context of species promotion.
• Whether projects clearly articulate how biotechnology activities relate to the needs of the rural poor (including a description of the relationship of work to practical deployment objectives).
• Whether suitable indicators are provided for monitoring biotechnology impacts.
• Whether due consideration has been given to the role of partnerships in promotion.
• Whether proper consideration has been given to property rights.

Download the full document