Plant biotechnology status in Egypt

Abstract

Hunger and malnutrition are important factors that hinder the development of any country. Farmers have used traditional methods to solve the problem, but do not seem to succeed. However, plant biotechnology has potentials for improving crop productivity and ensuring food security. Also, it significantly shortens the time required for the production of new cultivars with desirable characteristics. Egypt hosts one of the oldest agricultural civilizations in the world (Craig, The agriculture of Egypt. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1993). Despite this, it faces the risk of food insecurity due to the increasing rate of population and not using the modern technology to increase crop productivity. Therefore, Egypt started one of the most advanced plant biotechnology programs in Africa in 1990 and launched the Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI). AGERI is engaged in cutting-edge projects in the field of biotic and abiotic stress resistance, genome mapping, and bioinformatics. AGERI successfully engineered several crops which include wheat, cotton, maize, potato, cucumber, squash, melon, and tomato. These crops are in the pipeline of commercialization due to the governmental hesitation toward commercialization of genetically modified crops.