Biotechnology Agricultural Biotechnology
Seminar Paper in the WANA Region
S. Cetiner
April 1995
ISNAR Biotechnology Service BS
Seminar Papers reflect the views of the Copyright © 2001 by the International Service for National
authors and not necessarily those of ISNAR. Agricultural Research, The Netherlands. All rights reserved.
They are not official ISNAR publications. ISNAR encourages the fair use of this material.
Proper citation is requested.
Agricultural Biotechnology in the WANA Region
S. Çetiner
This section presents a picture of the current Considering the scarce financial and
status of agricultural biotechnology in the human resources in many of the countries
countries participating in the seminar. The participating in the seminar, realistic
main aspects of national biotechnology national policies or strategies are needed for
programs are reviewed, illustrated with the efficient use of the resources available for
selected examples from specific countries. agricultural biotechnology research. As can
The chapter is based on the papers be seen below, different countries have taken
presented on each participating country, the different approaches to increase their
country survey forms completed prior to the research capabilities and priorities. It is
seminar, and consultations with the seminar noted that because of its long tradition in
participants1. agricultural research and its strong scientific
base, Israel has been the most successful of
Biotechnology Policies and Institutions the countries reviewed.
Israel: In Israel, although no clear
Recent advances in the field of national biotechnology strategy is specified,
biotechnology and especially in genetic the National Council for Research and
engineering have aroused enthusiasm in Development has selected biotechnology as
many of the developing countries, including one of the areas of research priority. The
those present at the seminar. As a result of National Council for Research and
this enthusiasm and the often high Development, which is composed of
expectations that  biotechnology will solve scientists, industrialists and the Chief
agricultural problems, governments have Scientists of some Ministries, plays an
started programs to invest in capacity important role in making major decisions
building for agricultural biotechnology on agricultural biotechnology although it
research. However, these initiatives are often does not have a budget to fund research
taken in isolation from the specific national projects. The National Committee for
context. In other words, scientists involved Biotechnology was established about 15
in biotechnology, who are mostly involved years ago in a joint initiative taken by the
in basic sciences rather than in agriculture, Ministry of Industry and Trade and the
often set strategies and priorities without Ministry of Science and Technology. The
due consideration of the country’s overall function of this Committee is to solicit
objectives for sustainable agricultural funds for infrastructure, and training for
production. special expertise, as well as for creating 
1  For this section, we made use of the following papers presented at the seminar:
Aitchitt, M. et al. Moroccan Date Palm Programme & Plant Biotechnology: An Example of Technology Transfer; Arabiat, S. Biotechnology
in Jordan: National Policies and Institutions; Arifi, A. Status of Biotechnology Research in Morocco; Çetiner, S., H. Sungur and K. Güleç.
Agricultural Biotechnology in Turkey; Çetiner, S., H. Sungur and K. Güleç. Policies for Agricultural Biotechnology in Turkey; Chalutz, E.,
and S. Harel. Country Paper - Israel; Ellouz, R. Research in Tunisia: Biotechnology Case; Galun, E. Summary Presentation: Israel; Haddadin,
M.S. Technology Transfer: Determining Public and Private Sector Roles in Jordan; Mougou, A. Agricultural Biotechnology in Tunisia.
41
“centers” for research on human, animal and preliminary policy-setting activities, two
plant genomes. The Office of the Chief Centers for Biotechnology (The
Scientist in the Ministry of Industry and Biotechnology Center in Sfax and The
Trade has initiated a “Magnet” program for Pasteur Institute in Tunis) and new
the development of generic technologies, laboratories in already existing institutes
including biotechnology, by creating were established. 
consortia of companies and research Turkey: Although there is no specific
institutions. The Office of the Chief policy for agricultural biotechnology in
Scientist in the Ministry of Agriculture, on Turkey, various organizations at the
the other hand, promotes biotechnology governmental level have acknowledged
research through a special Steering biotechnology as a priority area. The
Committee.  However, it should be noted Technical and Scientific Research Council
that, alongside these efforts to plan and co- of Turkey (TUBITAK) identified
ordinate biotechnology research through biotechnology as one of the priority areas
several committees, biotechnology research for research funding among different
and development in Israel have developed scientific disciplines in 1983. TUBITAK
independently of these activities. This is due established the Agricultural Biotechnology
to Israel’s long tradition in agricultural and Food Technology Research Group in
research, and a strong scientific base in order to co-ordinate research in this field.
biochemistry and cell biology that are However, this group was dissolved after a
essential for new biotechnologies. short time. The State Planning
Tunisia: Because of the importance of Organization, which is the major funding
biotechnology, most of the activities were agency for  public institutions including
brought under the National Plan for universities, has also identified
Biotechnology in early 1980’s. The co- biotechnology as one of the priority areas in
ordination of agricultural biotechnology the sixth and seventh Five Year
research programs is done at two levels. The Development Plans. The Ministry of
first one is the National Committee for Agriculture, on the other hand, does not
Agricultural Biotechnology of the State have a strategy for agricultural
Secretary of Research in Science and biotechnology, but considers biotechnology
Technology (SERST), and the second one is as an integral part of the Master Plan for
the Program Committee within the Agricultural Research. Recently, the
Institution of Research and Higher Technology Development Fund of Turkey
Education of the Ministry of Agriculture conducted a strategic targeting project in
(IRESA). It is worth noting that the order to determine the priorities for plant
National Plan for Biotechnology has biotechnology research in Turkey. However,
emphasized  education and training in the even this effort has not been very effective in
field of biotechnology, and many setting priorities for researchers at various
scholarships have been allocated for institutes and universities.
postgraduate studies in Tunisia, but mainly In Jordan and Morocco, there are no
in France. The funding for these training specific policies set for agricultural
programs was provided by the Tunisian biotechnology, although there are several
Government and the French Embassy under research institutes and universities carrying
an agreement between the two out research in agricultural biotechnology.
governments. Also, as an outcome of these Biotechnology is considered an integral part
42
I I .  C o u n t r y  E x p e r i e n c e s
of the national agricultural strategy. In Israel: Biosafety guidelines have already
Jordan, the Higher Council for Science and been adopted, and these are administered by
Technology (HCST) and the National two National Committees, one for plants
Center for Agricultural Research and and the other for animals, within the
Technology Transfer (NCARTT) of the Ministry of Agriculture. Every request for
Ministry of Agriculture have set policies and research, development or practical
strategies for science and technology, and implementation should be approved by
agricultural research, respectively. Research these Committees first. However, there have
activities in Morocco are stimulated through not been any field tests of transgenic plants
the National Program for Agricultural as yet.
Research. Tunisia: Although there are no set
regulations yet, issues regarding biosafety are
The Regulatory Environment for handled by the Ministries of Agriculture and
Biotechnology the Environment. Since the research
laboratories involved in biotechnology were
Regulations on biosafety and intellectual administered by a number of  organizations,
property rights should be handled as an there has been some delay in addressing the
integral part of the national biotechnology biosafety regulations. However, since the
strategy. It is noted that these issues are creation of the SERST, this issue has been
often still to be addressed in the countries discussed by two ad hoc committees with
participating in the seminar. regard to  the field testing of transgenic
potato plants. 
Biosafety regulations In Jordan and Turkey, although the need
for biosafety regulations has been discussed,
A comprehensive national biosafety system biosafety guidelines have not yet been
for the efficient and prompt review of all adopted. Genetic engineering research is
applications for the use or release of still in its infancy, and biosafety regulations
genetically modified organisms is important are not considered a priority issue. In
in order to benefit from new developments Morocco, a committee was set up recently
while minimizing risks to public health and to formulate basic guidelines for national
the environment. biosafety regulations.  Also, a workshop on
At present, only a few of the countries biosafety will be organized in 1997 in
in the region carry out res e a r ch on the genetic collaboration with the ABSP project of
engineering of plants, and field testing of USAID. It is worth noting that, although
these may be years away. Howev er , biosafety there were no regulations on biosafety, in
regulations are needed while these are being 1994 Sandoz carried out field tests on
de v eloped in the laboratory, and tested in the transgenic tomatoes in Morocco, and
gr eenhouse or under contained conditions. another  has been scheduled for 1997.
In addition, adequate biosafety reg u l a t i o n s 
need to be in place for the field testing of Intellectual Property Rights
im p o r ted genetically modified organisms
(G M O s) and transgenic plants devel o p e d Although the advantages and disadvantages
el s e wh e r e. Only Israel has implemented of having strong legal arrangements on
biosafety regulations, while Tunisia is in the intellectual property rights (IPR) in
pr ocess of adopting guidelines. developing countries are still debated, there
43
seems to be a need for such legislation in UPOV is underway, and a new Regulation
order to improve bilateral or international for Plant Breeder’s Rights was enacted in
collaboration and technology transfer. September 1994. However, UPOV has
Policies for the application of IPR to asked for a few amendments to this
products arising from biotechnology are still Regulation before approving Turkey’s
under formulation. The patentability of membership.
plants and animals is disputed, as it is in
industrialized countries, and the lack of an Public and Private Sector Institutions
established practice in patenting living Conducting Biotechnology Research
material contributes significantly to
uncertainties related to IPR for Most of the research on agricultural
biotechnology. biotechnology is carried out in public
The Agreement on Trade-Related research institutes and universities. The
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights number of private companies involved in
(TRIPS) under the World Trade agricultural biotechnology is rather limited.
Organization, which most governments There are examples of specialized
have now joined, establishes minimum centers or institutes of biotechnology in a
standards of IPR protection. According to few countries. However, these centers
the TRIPS agreement, plant varieties must usually do not collaborate with the
be protectable either by patents or by a sui agricultural research institutes, and have
generis system (such as the breeder’s rights their own agenda which is sometimes
provided in the conventions of UPOV — isolated from the national context.
the International Union for the Protection Universities, on the other hand, concentrate
of New Varieties of Plants). more on education and so-called basic
Only in a few countries participating research rather than applied. In many cases,
in the seminar, is there any legislation on researchers at the universities do not have
intellectual property rights and plant any responsibility for transferring or
breeders’ rights, although this is likely to diffusing technology to the end users. Their
change. Most have signed the TRIPS links with the agricultural research institutes
agreement and have applied for UPOV are limited, too. Private companies might be
membership as well. Considering the willing to invest in agricultural
potential income generation from royalties biotechnology research if incentives were
and the licensing of novel materials and provided by government. The outcomes of
techniques, researchers and institutes in biotechnology research take time and
countries where government funding is capital, which is often expensive in these
rather low may very well benefit from such countries. However, there are a few
legislation. examples of collaborative research activities
In Morocco, for example, a new law on between the public sector institutes and
intellectual property rights was  approved by private companies in the field of the
Parliament in December 1996. The new micropropagation of virus-free plant
patent law includes plant material. The new material. Examples of research activities in
Turkish Patent Law, which follows the the public and private sectors are given
European Patent Convention, excludes below. As mentioned earlier, co-ordination
patent protection for plants and animals. between the various units is often weak.
On the other hand, Turkey’s membership of
44
I I .  C o u n t r y  E x p e r i e n c e s
Israel: Much of the basic, and also In Jordan, there are a few private
applied, research is conducted at seven sector companies dealing with
higher education institutes (i.e., biotechnology. The private chemical
universities). The Faculty of Agriculture of Sukhtian Company, for instance, is also
the Hebrew University has the Warburg involved in the micropropagation of various
Center for Agricultural Biotechnology. The ornamental plants and potato.
National Committee for Biotechnology, Morocco: Research on agricultural
through the Ministry of Science and Arts, biotechnology is carried out in many of the
has recently established the Center for Plant public research institutes of the Ministry of
Genome Research (basically concentrating Agriculture and Agricultural Development
on the tomato), whose headquarters is at the (such as INRA and IAV Hassan II) and the
Weizman Institute of Sciences. However, a universities (Faculty of Sciences in
sizable proportion of the agricultural Marrakech, Rabat, Kenitra, Meknes, Agadir,
biotechnology research on product Oujda and Tetouan). Most of the research
development is carried out at the work is on the micropropagation of various
Agricultural Research Organisation (e.g., crop plants as well as forest trees. The
the Volcani Center) of the Ministry of Faculty of Sciences in Rabat and IAV
Agriculture. Although agricultural Hassan II work together on androgenesis
biotechnology research in private sector and somatic cell genetics. Recently, research
companies is still restricted to on molecular biology has been incorporated
micropropagation, there are a number of into the date palm program at INRA’s
companies conducting research in Regional Research Center and the Faculty of
collaboration with scientists at universities Sciences in Marrakech. The date palm
and government institutes. program aims at controlling the soil-borne
Jordan: The Higher Council for fungus Fusarium oxysporum that causes the
Science and Technology recently set up a “Bayoud” disease. At the IAV Hassan II,
National Biotechnology Center with molecular markers are being used for genetic
responsibility for all research and diversity analysis and for the introgression of
development in the field of biotechnology. resistance genes from wild species to
The National Center for Agricultural cultivated crops in association with in vitro
Research and Technology Transfer has a techniques. There is also research on various
modern plant tissue culture laboratory aspects of animal biotechnology (e. g.
mainly working on the micropropagation of developing vaccines) at the Veterinary
disease-free apple rootstocks. At the Science Department, and on food
Faculties of Agriculture of the University of biotechnology (e. g. enzyme production) at
Jordan and the Jordan University of Science the Food Microbiology and Biotechnology
and Technology, there are two modern plant Department at IAV Hassan II.
tissue culture laboratories whose research The private plant tissue culture
work focuses on developing plant tissue company “Domaine Agricole El Bassatine”
culture expertise for the important in Meknes has been involved in the
agricultural species. At the Mu’tah micropropagation of date palms, using a
University, the Faculty of Science has a technique developed at INRA-Marrakech.
laboratory for the production of disease-free Tunisia: Basic and applied research on
potato tubers. agricultural biotechnology are carried out
both at the public research institutes and at 
45
the universities. At the National Institute of all of these labs are understaffed, and many
Agriculture of Tunisia (INAT), besides of them are not functional any more. There
research on the micropropagation of are also two tissue culture laboratories at
horticultural species, there is also molecular two of the research institutes of the Ministry
biology research on Rhizobium spp. and of Forestry. By far the best infrastructure for
Agrobacterium rhizogenes, and the biotechnology research is at the Genetic
development of DNA markers for disease Engineering and Biotechnology Institute of
resistance. Biological control agents are also TUBITAK (Technical and Scientific
studied by the researchers at INAT. At the Research Council of Turkey). However,
National Agricultural Research Institute in agricultural biotechnology constitutes only a
Tunis (INRAT), besides the small part of their research. There are four
micropropagation of date palm, Prunus private plant tissue culture laboratories in
rootstocks and citrus, there is research on Turkey. However, only two of them are
bioinsecticides, especially against potato actively working at present.
tuber moth. The Center for Biotechnology
in Sfax (CBS) is working on the molecular Public-Private Sector Collaboration
biology of Bacillus thuringiensis, as well as
the genetic engineering of potatoes for In technology transfer to the farmers, a close
disease resistance and abiotic stress collaboration between the private sector
tolerance. The CBS also works on industrial companies and the public sector institutions
micro-organisms, and the application of is of great importance. This is clearly seen in
biotechnology in the agrofood industry. At the case of Israel, and a few examples in
the National Institute for Forestry Research other countries. However, unless there is a
(INGREF), researchers work on the strong perceived demand for the new
improvement of nitrogen-fixing trees. technologies, private companies are
Turkey: Most of the agricultural reluctant to invest in agricultural
biotechnology research is carried out at the biotechnology. Therefore, as in Israel,
universities within the Faculties of governments need to establish long-term
Agriculture (Departments of Horticulture, policies providing companies with
Field Crops and Plant Protection and incentives for investments in biotechnology
Animal Husbandry), Science and Arts ventures.
(Departments of Biology), and Forestry. Israel: In Israel, the Office of the Chief
There are over 30 plant tissue culture Scientist of the Ministry of Industry and Trade
laboratories of various sizes and capabilities, has a program to encourage research and
most of which are working on the development activities in the private sector in
micropropagation of horticultural crops. collaboration with the university and
There is also research on obtaining double government institute scientists. Twenty-five
haploid plants. Four of the universities have companies are involved in agricultural
laboratories with equipment to carry out biotechnology research, and their activities are
recombinant DNA and plant genetic directed towards variety improvement,
transformation research. Research institutes disease-resistant and herbicide- tolerant plants,
of the Ministry of Agriculture have nine the production of secondary metabolites,
laboratories for plant tissue culture research. biological control agents (e. g. biofungicides
A new Agricultural Biotechnology Institute and biopesticides) and veterinary diagnostics.
is being constructed in Eskisehir. However, Technology transfer to the farmers is handled
46
I I .  C o u n t r y  E x p e r i e n c e s
through these chemical and seed companies. Agricultural Research Centers, such as
Also the companies established within the ICARDA and CIMMYT, as these have
Kibbutzim are good examples of technology evolved from conventional agricultural
transfer to the farmers. research projects. 
Morocco: In Morocco, one successful It is also noted that there has been
example of public and private sector substantial external funding for
collaboration is the micropropagation of biotechnology research from several
date palm. The micropropagation technique international donor agencies. While the
developed for the mass propagation of date major part of such external funding is spent
palm at the Plant Biotechnology Laboratory on the purchase of new equipment and
at INRA in Marrakech has been transferred building physical infrastructure, some part
to the private tissue culture laboratory of it is also used for training researchers
“Domaine Agricole El Bassatine” in Meknes abroad in order to increase their skills in
under a royalty agreement. Since then, new techniques. This external funding,
170,000 date palm trees of 8 selected clones however, does not always serve the
and 12 common varieties have been development of a national agricultural
distributed to the farmers. biotechnology program, but is used for the
Turkey: In Turkey, there are only a few development of certain centers and
examples of collaboration between the institutes which often do not feel the
university laboratories and the private sector necessity of collaborating with other
companies. At the University of Çukurova, agricultural research institutes within the
the Laboratory for plant Biotechnology country. The competitive research grants,
develops micropropagation protocols and on the other hand, encourage capable
starting materials for the private  tissue researchers towards more problem-oriented
culture laboratories. The Subtropical Fruits research as well as international and regional
Research Center sells about 200,000 collaboration. Bilateral cultural agreements
disease-free citrus plants per year to farmers, between the countries are also used for
besides providing disease-free bud-sticks for training young scientists in developed
three private citrus nurseries. The Institute countries.
for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Since many of the problems related to
of TUBITAK has developed various disease agricultural production in the region are
diagnosis kits and transferred these to a quite similar, collaboration among the
private company under a license agreement. institutes in these countries would help to
There are many more examples in the field solve these problems more efficiently.
of food biotechnology since there are more However, we should note that there is only a
companies active in this field. limited number of examples of regional
collaboration.
Regional and International Collaboration Israel: Israel maintains a large number of
bilateral collaborative research programs to
Although there are numerous examples of which Israeli scientists can apply for
international collaboration in each of the competitive research grants in agricultural
countries reviewed, the number of regional biotechnology. Most of these programs are
collaborative activities are very limited. A intended for agricultural research in general,
high proportion of the collaboration such as the US-Israel Binational Agricultural
reported is with the International Research and Development Fund (BARD),
47
the German-Israel Agricultural Research Fund
(GIARA), the Dutch-Israel Agricultural
Research Program (DIARP) and the EU
Research Program. There is also a German-
Israeli Biotechnology Program (DISNAT) in
which agricultural biotechnology projects are
funded, although their numbers are below the
desired level. Besides these, Israel also has
bilateral research and development agreements
with Canada, Austria, France, Portugal, Spain,
Singapore and Turkey. Although not
specifically focused on agricultural
biotechnology,  collaboration in research and
development has been going on with Egypt.
Jordan: The Faculty of Agriculture,
University of Jordan, had a five-year joint
project with the McGill University in
Canada which was supported by the
Canadian Agency for International
Development. This project, besides other
fields of agriculture, involved training
scientists and capacity building in plant
tissue culture as well as the fermentation
and enzyme process techniques.
Turkey: In Turkey, almost all of the major
universities and public research institutes
involved in biotechnology collaborate with
international research organizations like
CIYMMT, CIP, IPGRI, ICGEB, ICARDA
and FAO. There are also collaborative
research activities with various European
and American institutions which are funded
by the respective countries’ donor agencies
like the World Bank, USAID, GTZ, DAAD
and EU. There is also a binational
agreement on research and development
with Israel which is mainly used for the
education and training of young scientists.
Morocco and Tunisia are both involved
in the Date Palm Network, which is an
example of regional collaboration for the
genetic improvement and micropropagation
of a crop with a very specific regional
importance.
48