Recent Capacity Building Events in Bangladesh

AFSI Newsletter - May 2022

Drs. Andrew Roberts, Bhavneet Bajaj, and Vibha Ahuja recently traveled to Dhaka, and together with AFSI's in-country team in Bangladesh, Dr. Rakha Hari Sarker and Mr. Sium Ahmed, they conducted a series of meetings and capacity building events. These included the Third Workshop of the Institutional Biosafety Officer (IBO) Training Program, a workshop on biodiversity of pests and beneficial insects at the Cotton Development Board (CDB), and a seminar on putting biosafety into practice at the National Institute of Biotechnology (NIB). These activities were part of AFSI's South Asia Biosafety Program (SABP), which is dedicated to assisting India and Bangladesh in further strengthening their institutional governance of biotechnology.

South Asia Biosafety Program

Third Workshop of the IBO Training Program

Institutional Biosafety Officers (IBOs) need to ensure that biosafety-related activities at their home institutions are successfully implemented in accordance with government-mandated regulations and guidance. Organized by Bangladesh's Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with SABP, AFSI, and Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL), this capacity building activity for IBOs took place on March 22, 2022, with 20 scientists participating. The workshop was preceded by two others, with the first taking place on December 2, 2021 and the second on February 17, 2022.

Event Page»

Workshop on Biodiversity of Pest and Beneficial Insects at the CDB

AFSI's Biosafety Research in Bangladesh Grants Program (BRBGP) funded research in 2019-2021 that considered the potential impacts of agricultural biotechnology on the environment and biodiversity in Bangladesh. Prof. Dr. Mohammad Tofazzal Hossain Howlader was one of the recipients of the 2021 BRBGP award, and he has been conducting research to establish baseline information on pest and beneficial insect biodiversity of cotton. On March 30, 2022, a stakeholder consultation workshop for this project was co-organized by the CDB and Bangladesh Agricultural University, with Dr. Howlander presiding and Dr. Roberts as the Special Guest.

About BRBGP»

Seminar on Putting Biosafety into Practice at the NIB

The NIB's mandate is to coordinate all biotechnological research carried out in Bangladesh, as well as conduct its own research programs in different areas of biotechnology. Currently, researchers at NIB are specifically focused on rice and eggplant. Drs. Roberts and Bajaj delivered presentations at a seminar organized by the institute on March 21, 2022, which focused on the history of the development of biosafety regulations in Bangladesh, the importance of biosafety compliance, SOPs to ensure biosafety, as well as regulatory processes and policies of different countries and regions for genome-edited and genetically engineered crops.

Details in the SABP Newsletter»

Through SABP, AFSI provides technical assistance to the biosafety risk assessment and research communities in South Asia and further supports government efforts to implement functional and scientifically sound regulatory processes for agricultural biotechnology. The SABP team works with in-country partners to identify and respond to technical training needs for GE food, feed, and environmental safety assessment and is committed to developing a network of trained, authoritative local experts to communicate about the science of agricultural biotechnology and its biosafety to interested stakeholders.

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