We often learn about the progress of biotechnology, therefore it is advisable to clearly understand its concept, and it is appropriate to resort to that contained in the Convention on Biological Diversity from 1992, which defines it as “any technological application where biological systems and living organisms or their derivatives, for the creation and modifying products and their processes for beneficial use”; In the agricultural sector, they include transgenic plants and other genetically modified plants without the transfer of genes to foreign species to be improved, antioxidants, cultivation techniques, yeasts, bacteria, bioreactors or generators of biological living environments, pesticides, etc.

The state has done little or nothing about it, only sparks in medicine, in the industry of shrimp and other forms that are bred in captivity. In agriculture, it goes beyond the multiplication of plant tissues in university laboratories, with little projection, the use of microorganisms in the soil or as insecticides, but essentially, in what would provide answers to many problems affecting agriculture, it is not They have achieved new types of plants that resist diseases and pests or that are strong enough to withstand the high levels of heat they will have to survive with. If something has been done, it remains hidden in the premises of educational centers without the dissemination it deserves. Ecuadorian legislation prohibits the use of genetically modified seeds, but not for research purposes; We believe that the ban will be lifted after its effectiveness and, above all, safety have been demonstrated.

Ecuador must be informed of the progress of the plan announced by Iniap and Espol, who mobilized a large delegation of technicians and higher authorities to California under the chairmanship of former Minister of Agriculture Pedro Álava and Rector Cecilia Paredes, who received high training under the direction of Dr. Jennifer Doudna, awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 for his work on gene editing techniques for crop improvement with a focus on edible musaceae. What happened to the budget?

We must reject the old practice of not continuing the good things that our predecessors did, if we abandoned the search for banana varieties and plantations resistant to Fusarium R4T and black Sigatoka, which were derived from the successful Cavendish, and retained their virtues. to give immunity to the immortal Gros Michel against the Fusarium 1 race with higher productivity, because there is a natural laboratory of that banana called silk for its sweetness and texture, still unharmed in some locations in the country.

The state must accept that we will never stop being agrarians; it is urgently necessary to invest in research with advanced technological formulas in order to guarantee the survival of the population and to achieve the democratic change proclaimed by all currents of thought and the social teaching of the Church. It is essential that a minimum of 1.5% of the agricultural GDP is set aside, managed by institutions with full autonomy, with directorates in which farmers participate and free from political appetites. (OR)