International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications

International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA)
Abbreviation ISAAA
Formation 1992
Type Not for profit organization
Purpose Technology transfer, Knowledge Sharing, Capacity Building, Impact Assessment of GM Crops
Location
Region served
 Worldwide
Main organ
 Board of Directors
Website http://www.isaaa.org/

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) is a non-profit international organization that shares the benefits of agricultural biotechnology, with a special focus on resource-poor farmers in developing countries. ISAAA facilitates the transfer and delivery of proprietary biotechnology products by involving partner organisations from public and private sectors in the research and development continuum. Aside from technology transfer, ISAAA is also involved in science-based knowledge sharing and capacity building, and produces annual report on the use of biotech crops.

International presence

ISAAA operates three regional centers.

ISAAA SEAsiaCenter is hosted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines. This center also serves as the Global Coordination Office as well as the home of Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology (KC).[1] KC shares authoritative knowledge on every aspect of crop biotech to build capacity in national programmes to facilitate informed decision making about GM crops and their contribution to food security and environmental safety.[2] KC releases a weekly e-newsletter, the Crop Biotech Update (CBU), which features latest news about agricultural biotechnology.

ISAAA AfriCenter is hosted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) located in Nairobi, Kenya and implements programs involving tissue culture of bananas and rapid propagation of multipurpose trees.[3]

ISAAA AmeriCenter is located in Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. It serves as the administrative and financial headquarters of the organization.

Donor organisations

The ISAAA receives funding from both public and private donors. Some of the ISAAA's funding agencies include the USDA, US Grains Council, Monsanto, Bayer, two banks - Fondazione Bussolera in Italy and Ibercaja in Spain, USAID and the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II.

Annual Report on the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops

The organization releases an annual publication on the global status of commercially approved biotech crops. The publication is authored by Clive James, the founder and chair emeritus of ISAAA. The annual brief provides research on global trends in the adoption of major biotech crops since they were first planted commercially.

The 2012 report says that "18 million farmers planted 175.2 million hectares of biotech crops in 28 countries, a sustained increase of 3% or 5 million hectares over 2012."[4]

GM Approval Database

ISAAA documents approved GM crops worldwide and presents them in an easy-to-use database available in the organization's website. Each biotech event is featured with a brief description about the crop, trait, transformation method, developer, and summary of regulatory approval. Entries in the database were sourced from Biotechnology Clearing Houses/Regulatory Institutions of approving countries.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.1site-europe.net/onesite_inasp/people/orgdetail.asp?orgid=14690
  2. ↑ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jsfa.893/pdf Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
  3. ↑ http://www.ofabafrica.org/meeting_speaker_profiles/Profile-Karembu.pdf
  4. ↑ http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/02/13/crops-biotech-report-idINL2N0LG1OP20140213

Further reading

External links