recorder report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is achieving multiple objectives through cultivation of biotech crops using agricultural biotechnology which has enabled the farmers to reduce use of pesticides and help them to produce more food without increasing arable land.

Experts told Business Recorder here on Thursday that 0. Biotech crops have helped reduce the use of pesticides for several economically important crops, contributing to reductions in fuel, water and packaging that are eliminated from the manufacturing, distribution and application processes.

Biotech crops assist in bringing higher yields per hectare, making farming more efficient and productive on limited land area. Habitat destruction is the biggest single threat to biodiversity. Higher yields mean farmers can produce increasing amounts of food without increasing arable land and this has a major impact on protecting wildlife habitats.

Agricultural biotechnology has been described as a tsunami washing over agriculture, with fundamental impacts on how we grow and market our food and fiber.

Modern biotechnology involves genetic manipulations of transferring DNA from one organism to another. Therefore, unlike conventional plant or animal breeding, most biotechnology products are not something that could occur “naturally”.

For many, these unique attributes of agricultural biotechnology are cause for concern. While often these concerns involve the concentration of ownership of agricultural assets, food safety issues, there are also concerns about biotechnology products’ impacts on the environment.

There are at least four areas of potential biotechnology contributions which include gains in yields through new plants resistant to environmental stresses, lower costs of labor and agriculture inputs (including irrigation water), higher-quality food and value-added products, and environmentally benign methods of managing weeds and insect pests, they said.

Experts highlighted that many of these potential contributions are environmental. For example, the new transgenic crops could reduce the use of chemical pesticides.

There may also be savings in energy and air emissions from more efficient transport of less perishable products. Drought resistant transgenic plants help in yield losses be minimized.

Referring to a study, experts said that the herbicide tolerant crops are great enablers of zero-tillage agriculture, a substantial contributor to sustainable agriculture. Zero-tillage means sowing seed directly into the field, without first ploughing to remove weeds. By leaving the soil undisturbed, more moisture is retained, which is good for water conservation. Other indirect benefits of zero-tillage are improved conservation of beneficial soil insects and earth worms. Through use of fewer fuel powered agricultural machines, carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere are decreased and fossil fuels are conserved. Less tractor traffic also causes indirect benefits to soil quality, and hence a reduced contribution towards global warming.

Experts added that there are different methods of risk assessment before a Genetically Modified crops introduced in the market. It goes through a series of steps before it is approved to be used in the environment. All the possible environmental hazards are taken into account by the professionals. Pakistan has Department of Environment Protection Agency (Pak EPA) entrusted with this job. Pak EPA works under bio-safety regulations to ensure that safe and sound products are released in our environment for improved agriculture that can benefit our farmers and also meet our food and feed needs of future.