From green revolution to gene revolution

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

For the first time in Sri Lanka, the US Embassy and Sri Lankan Government agencies collaborated to organize an event on biotechnology, based on the theme ‘From green revolution to gene revolution – are we on the right track?’ The two day event which commenced yesterday will feature a line-up of distinguished guest speakers, both local and international, and has brought together both scientists and regulators together to discuss the possibility of implementing biotechnology to address key issues in local agriculture including productivity, arbitrary use of chemicals and the effects of climate change.

The National Science Foundation, which takes the lead in mobilizing scientific research to enhance quality of life in Sri Lanka, has played a key role in organising this conference for the benefit of local scientists and researchers.

In his welcome address at the conference, The US Embassy Economic Officer Charles Fowler stated that this conference provides a timely opportunity to examine new technologies and new tools to improve agriculture for the benefit of farmers as well as consumers in the region.

“With the world confronting the challenges of climate change, shifting weather patterns, burgeoning population growth, widespread hunger and poverty and an increasing demand for scarce water resources I believe it is imperative that we consider new methods of expanding agricultural production in an environmentally sustainable way,” he added.

 “This is a most important issue not only facing Sri Lanka but the world as a whole. We know that at this very moment, close to a billion people on our planet are suffering as a result of inadequate food intake,” expressed the Chief Guest at the conference, the Senior Minister of Scientific Affairs Prof. Tissa Vitarana.

“We have a lot of interest in human rights but I think the most basic right is the right to food and this is being violated on our planet and this is a black mark on all of us. We have to change that and to do that there has to be a cooperative constructive action by a large number of stakeholders.

 This problem rather than diminishing shows signs of increasing.”

Professor M.S. Swaminathan, the scientific leader of the green revolution movement in India gave a presentation outlining what brought about the green revolution and outlined several factors that have led to the dire food shortage globally.

“One of the reasons for this is the volatility of prices. The food shortage is not due to an physical shortage of food itself, which is not an immediate problem, but instead it is the pricing which makes food unaffordable to certain people and hence they suffer from the adverse effects of food shortage such as malnutrition,” he explained. He stressed on the importance of food security globally and how the green revolution in agriculture could prove to be a pathway to feed the world.  Other speakers at the two-day event will comprise of representatives of the local and international agriculture companies, leading scientists, academics and regulators, including a representing from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Pic by Upul Abeyasekara