Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II

Supporting agricultural development through biotechnology

Product Identification

Overview

The concept behind ABSPII is that capacity in agricultural biotechnology can best be built through the careful and studied delivery of selected bio-engineered products. Working with actual products, the capacity of scientists, regulators, extension workers, farmers and the general public to make informed decisions will be improved. An important supporting result is that improved products actually reach the farmers and contribute to more productive agricultural systems that improve people’s lives.

Identifying products that not only can be delivered in the 5-10 years of the project, but that also have a market and the potential to provide a genuine improvement over existing products, requires not just an analysis of the available technology opportunities, but also an awareness of local needs. Thus, local involvement in needs assessment has been an important aspect of the priority setting activities undertaken by ABSPII in this first year.

Recognizing that the diverse countries where ABSPII is mandated to work exemplify very different stages in the involvement of biotechnology in agriculture, products at various levels of development needed to be identified in order to make certain that appropriate expertise is developed in the future. In countries where bio-engineered crops are already approved and experience exists, the emphasis will be on the commercial delivery of a product. In other countries that do not yet have this capacity, sourcing existing products for field trials and strengthening product development expertise will be more important.

Priority Setting Process

Workshop Process in Asia

Information on crop production constraints and opportunities for bio-engineered products in Asia was collected at ABSPII-organized workshops held in the Philippines, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Participants were invited from the country and region, with the aim of ranking potential products and the identification of local implementing partners.

After the workshops, further information was solicited from developers of specific products related to the following issues:

Whether field trials have taken place or when they are planned
The freedom-to-operate status of the product and whether any analysis has been done
Components in the transgene and whether any biosafety assessments have been carried out on these components
Value of the crop and the effect of the constraint on production value
Effect of the technology in addressing the constraint
Consideration of the potential acceptance by local and international consumers
Whether the product might have an impact in other countries in the region, or other regions
Whether the product would be particularly suited to poor farmers or disadvantaged groups

In selected cases, an external review of the product was commissioned in order to understand fully the status of the product.

Process in Africa

Process in East and Central Africa

A process for identification of regional agricultural needs in East and Central Africa had been established by the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Central and Eastern Africa (ASARECA). USAID has been supporting the establishment of a biotechnology network within ASARECA as an aid in the development of capacity within the region.

ABSPII has been involved in the formal priority setting process employed for the entire ASARECA network but, as there were a number of different aims of this process, the outcomes were not applicable directly to ABSPII. ABSPII is focused on bio-engineered products, but ASARECA’s biotechnology initiative considered a broader range of activities including tissue culture, marker assisted selection, animal vaccine development and micro propagation. Similarly, because ASARECA consists of a set of commodity networks created a number of years ago to provide a mechanism for regional implementation, some crops are not covered. Some very promising potential products thus fall outside of ASARECA’s current remit and additional partners are needed. Other consortium partners in Africa, including international research centers with activities in the region, have been involved in the identification process.

Further information was solicited from developers of specific products related to the following issues:

Whether field trials have taken place or when they are planned
The freedom-to-operate status of the product and whether any analysis has been done
Components in the transgene and whether any biosafety assessments have been carried out on these components
Value of the crop and the effect of the constraint on production value
Effect of the technology in addressing the constraint
Consideration of the potential acceptance by local and international consumers
Whether the product might have an impact in other countries in the region, or other regions
Whether the product would be particularly suited to poor farmers or disadvantaged groups

In selected cases, an external review of the product was commissioned in order to understand fully the status of the product.

As the number of potential products was somewhat less, the fact that products had the potential to be developed to the stage of field trials was significant.

Process in West Africa

Le Conseil Ouest et Centre Africain pour la Recherche et le Développement Agricoles (CORAF) is a central part of the ABSPII strategy in West Africa. Support to develop CORAF’s biotechnology activities is a role for which ABSPII and its product-focused approach are well suited. However, as there are no priority setting activities upon which ABSPII can draw, more reliance has been placed on existing and commissioned reports to identify needs. Potential products have been identified by regional partners and other consortium members as well as through discussions with USAID missions in the region.

Further information was solicited from developers of specific products related to the following issues:

Whether field trials have taken place or when they are planned
The freedom-to-operate status of the product and whether any analysis has been done
Components in the transgene and whether any biosafety assessments have been carried out on these components
Value of the crop and the effect of the constraint on production value
Effect of the technology in addressing the constraint
Consideration of the potential acceptance by local and international consumers
Whether the product might have an impact in other countries in the region, or other regions
Whether the product would be particularly suited to poor farmers or disadvantaged groups

In selected cases, an external review of the product was commissioned in order to understand fully the status of the product.

Since there were few potential products, the fact that they had the potential to be developed to the stage of field trials was significant.

SWOT Analysis

An analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for each candidate product commercialization package was undertaken. Information was obtained either directly from the developer or internally by the ABSPII management team, to identify critical information needed in this respect related to each potential product.