South Asia Biosafety Program

The Biosafety Research in Bangladesh Grants Program (BRBGP) is managed by the Agriculture & Food Systems Institute as part of the USAID-funded South Asia Biosafety Program (SABP). The Biosafety Research in Bangladesh Grants Program recognizes the need for biosafety research as part of a broader effort to support science-based decision-making and policy development and funds research that considers the potential impacts of agricultural biotechnology, particularly genetically engineered crops, on the environment and biodiversity in Bangladesh. Recipients of the 2019 BRBGP grants, announced at the 7^th Annual South Asia Biosafety Conference, include:

• Vegetable Pest Management Practices in Bangladesh and Their Impacts on the Environment, Bangladesh Agricultural University (Project Lead: Muhammad Shahidul Haque, Ph.D.)
• Assessment of Weed Management Practices in Rice Cultivation in Bangladesh, National Institute of Biotechnology (Project Lead: Abdun Noor Muhammad Iftekhar Alam, Ph.D.)
• Use and Handling Practices of Pesticides Used in the Cultivation of High Yielding Potato Varieties in Bangladesh, University of Dhaka (Project Lead: Mohammad Zabed Hossain, Ph.D.)

The Request for Pre-Proposals for BRBGP 2020 was issued on February 15, 2020, with an initial submission deadline of March 31, 2020, which was later extended to April 15, 2020 to accommodate potential delays connected with the COVID-19 situation. Pre-proposals were open to public and private agricultural research institutions and universities of Bangladesh, or International Agricultural research Centers (IARCs) involved in research in Bangladesh. Pre-proposals received in accordance with the BRBGP 2020 Pre-Proposal Guidelines are currently under review.

Presently, over 30 Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutes have active research programs developing and evaluating genetically engineered (GE) plants to address basic research questions about plant biology on through to efforts to improve productivity under the stressors of climate change. Because ICAR is committed to compliance with biosafety regulations concerned with GE organisms, it has partnered with SABP to initiate a pilot program in ten ICAR institutions actively working to develop new GE plants. Two individuals were selected from each of the ICAR institutions to become Institutional Biosafety Officers (IBOs), who are now working together to develop resources necessary for a functioning institutional biosafety program, including standard operating procedures, staff training materials, and processes for facility biosafety audits.

Currently, many public research institutions, individually or in collaboration with foreign research partners, have been developing GE crops in Bangladesh. One of the successful examples of collaborative research is Bt brinjal, which got approved by the government of Bangladesh on October 30, 2013 for “limited cultivation” in the field. Since 2014, this trait has been cultivated commercially for human consumption, making Bangladesh a pioneer in the arena of GE food crop commercialization. Many other crops are now ready to be assessed or already in the pipeline for performance evaluation. To support such activities, the government of Bangladesh has developed several documents, such as the Standard Operation Protocols (SOPs) for Confined Field Trial, the Data Recording Formats for CFT, and the Manual for Confined Field Trial, etc., and Institutional Biosafety Officers need to perform their activities in accordance with these documents. Therefore, it is crucial to understand these guiding documents and create space to learn from and support each other through collective learning, collaboration, and networking. Against the backdrop of continued developments in both research and regulation for biosafety in Bangladesh, the South Asia Biosafety Program is arranging training activities in Dhaka to establish a network of practitioners who can exchange experiences and knowledge about best practices for ensuring biosafety during the research and development of GE plants. This program is modeled after similar efforts between SABP and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research.