Sociopolitical Effects of New Biotechnologies in Developing Countries.

Sociopolitical Effects of New Biotechnologies in Developing Countries.
Author: Klaus M. Leisinger
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 24
Release: 1995
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0896296091

Assuring food security for the next 25 years requires meeting a number of political, social, economic, and technical challenges. One of these is the successful use of new biotechnologies in agriculture. Research in recombinant genetics and biotechnology aims to develop plant varieties that provide reliable high yields at the same or lower costs by breeding in qualities such as resistance to disease, pests, and stress factors such as aridity. Realization of these goals could lead to tremendous gains in food production. However, biotechnology is now evoking the same objections that have been raised against the Green Revolution—that its benefits are distributed inequitably in favor of the large, rich farmers and that it is potentially environmentally destructive. In this brief, Leisinger discusses the need for biotechnology and its sociopolitical ramifications and he looks at the roles played by the public and private sectors. In conclusion, the author states that biotechnology offers no silver bullet for food security — there are no silver bullets—but biotechnology is an important instrument in the difficult fight against hunger. The sociopolitical obstacles must be removed not only for the successful implementation of biotechnology, but also for an equitable and sustainable tomorrow for the world.

Economic and Social Issues in Agricultural Biotechnology

Economic and Social Issues in Agricultural Biotechnology
Author: Robert E. Evenson
Publisher: CABI
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2002-07-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780851997889

There are currently many controversial socioeconomic issues concerned with the development and implementation of agricultural biotechnology. This book presents selected revised and edited papers from the fourth and fifth meetings of the International Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology Research, held in Italy in 2000 and 2001.

Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries

Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries
Author: Matin Qaim
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2013-03-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1475731787

Biotechnology offers great potential to contribute to sustainable agricultural growth, food security and poverty alleviation in developing countries. Yet there are economic and institutional constraints at national and international levels that inhibit the poor people's access to appropriate biotechnological innovations. Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries: Towards Optimizing the Benefits for the Poor addresses the major constraints. Twenty-three chapters, written by a wide range of scholars and stake-holders, provide an up-to-date analysis of agricultural biotechnology developments in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Besides the expected economic and social impacts, the challenges for an adjustment of the international research structure are discussed, with a special focus on intellectual property rights and the roles of the main research organizations. Harnessing the comparative advantages of the public and private sectors through innovative partnerships is the only way forward to optimize the benefits of biotechnology for the poor. The book will be an invaluable resource for both academics and policy-makers concerned with agricultural biotechnology in context of developing-countries.

Biotechnology: Economic and Social Aspects

Biotechnology: Economic and Social Aspects
Author: E. J. DaSilva
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 406
Release: 1992-04-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780521384735

This book was first published in 1992. This book deals with an area of great importance: the issues involved in developing biotechnologically based industries in the developing countries. The science and most of the techniques are well established and it is often possible to obtain the desired finance. This book, however, examines the sort of choices that a developing country has to make as to whether to go ahead with any of the projects outlined in the book and their likely socio-economic consequences. Each chapter is written by experts in their field and discusses the current biotechnologically based industries and their state of development, their suitability for various economies and the problems associated with developing them. Chapters discuss environmental questions and further socio-economic factors that need to be considered in order to bring about successful wealth creation in these countries. This book will be invaluable reading for all those interested in biotechnology and its application to the developing world.

Biotechnology, Agriculture and the Developing World

Biotechnology, Agriculture and the Developing World
Author: Timothy M. Swanson
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2002
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

The product of research sponsored by the UK Department for International Development and a May 2000 workshop held in Rome, Italy, this book comprises 11 contributions from experts affiliated with the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (Rome, Italy) and the Institute for Plant Biology (U. of Zurich, Switzerland), and from academics in agriculture, food economics, law, and land economy affiliated with universities in the UK, US, and Italy. They investigate ways in which industrial changes implicit in new biotechnologies will affect modern agriculture; analyze industrial and distribution impacts, including consequences for developing countries; and look at genetic use restriction technologies and their implications for global agricultural production. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Reconstructing biotechnologies

Reconstructing biotechnologies
Author: Guido Ruivenkamp
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 367
Release: 2023-08-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9086866395

The main subject of this publication is the co-creation of society and biotechnology. The authors do not treat society and biotechnology as separate domains, instead they consider technologies as socially constructed. The main focus of this publication is on agro-biotechnologies and the contributors present perspectives for reconstruction both from and in 'the North' and 'the South'. Reconstructing biotechnologies offers a range of critical social analyses confronting the actuality of biotechnology with the potentialities of its social reconstruction. In doing that, the book develops and merges literature from four different disciplines, namely (i) critical theory and its analyses of technology and power, (ii) political economy, critically assessing the interrelationship between economy, politics and technology, (iii) social constructivism, which holds that technology is the product of agency and knowledge systems, and (iv) the analysis of rural society and agrarian technologies in rural sociology. Reconstructing biotechnologies introduces exciting approaches and examples into the social reshaping of biotechnologies. It brings together critical examinations of contemporary biotechnology development and puts forward possible alternatives written by critical scholars. The contributions in this publication are for students and scholars in a wide range of disciplines such as social and political sciences, science and technology studies, and development studies. The editors of the book are associated with the Social Sciences Department of Wageningen University in the Netherlands and the Graduate School of Economics of Kyoto University in Japan. They have published extensively on social and political theory and biotechnology.

Potential Impacts of Crop Biotechnology in Developing Countries

Potential Impacts of Crop Biotechnology in Developing Countries
Author: Matin Qaim
Publisher:
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2000
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Crop biotechnology could boost global food production in a sustainable way. However, the economic repercussions of biotechnology for developing countries are largely unknown and have been the subject of acute controversy over the last few years. This study deals with the topic and provides some preliminary empirical results. An analytical framework for the ex ante evaluation of biotechnology in smallholder agriculture is developed, which is then used within three different case studies in Kenya and Mexico. It is shown that biotechnology holds great potentials for poor agricultural producers and consumers. Yet appropriate institutional adjustments are required to capitalize on these potentials. Implications for national and international biotechnology policies are discussed.