Science and technology: A policy vision

There is another very good example. Not so long ago, BRAC was quick to adopt tissue culture technology to produce virus free potato seeds. During the last winter BRAC's Biotech lab produced 4500 tons of disease free planting material in its experimental fields. Potato growers were so enthusiastic to buy this material that this quantity fell far short of the demand. Potato seed market in Bangladesh has a great potential, as could be realized from the fact that the Munshigunge potato growing belt alone requires 60,000 tons of quality disease free potato seeds. The entire country's need is roughly 180,000 tons. Shortage of capital leads farmers to buy poor quality seeds as the imported ones are very costly. GoB can formulate a plan to hold regional workshops in collaboration with BRAC to train semi-skilled farmers to multiply tissue culture derived potato plantlets. Materialization of this plan will not only make Bangladesh self-sufficient in quality potato seeds but will enable the country to export certified seeds to neighboring countries.

Bangladesh needs high-skilled work force: In order to keep abreast with the phenomenal progress of science and technology, Bangladesh requires high skilled workforce in addition to first rate scientists and technologists.

In order to develop this kind of workforce, the whole educational system needs to undergo a drastic change entailing modernization of curricula at school-, college- and university level, a shift from memorization-based evaluation to that which encourages independent thinking and testing of students' knowledge and ability on appropriate educational measurement tools.

Problem-solving projects: The National Institute of Biotechnology (NIB) may take this vital role of providing necessary assistance to the Government in selection of such proposals. To achieve this objective, the scientific personnel of the institute need to have qualities of leadership in their own fields both in terms of their research output and their guiding capabilities. Bangladeshis capable of giving such leadership are available. They are working at various prestigious universities and institutions such as in CSIRO, Australia, Cape Town University, South Africa, NIH in the USA. Most of the these top notch scientists are willing to come to Bangladesh for a shorter or longer period and help set up NIB to make it a state of the art institution.

Besides new research, a section of NIB may be given the mandate to help the private sector produce generic biotechnology products that are no longer under patent protection. NIB may be involved in helping large-scale applications of proven and developed technologies that do not require new research. In other words. this section may initiate money making projects based on market research and proper feasibility studies.

One of such projects could be the production of cheap electricity using methane gas by burning the city's garbage. It is a proven technology that is already being used in North Carolina, Sao Palao and Japan. In fact, there are donor agencies like The WINROCK International, who are willing to provide experts to work at NIB to help design and execute such projects.

Imagine Dhaka City free from the trash-generated noxious smell, and enjoying cheap electricity at the same time.

Another project of PROVEN TECHNOLOGY that NIB can launch in collaboration with Bangladesh Rice Research Institute and BRAC is the introduction of vitamin-A rich Brridhan 29 (Bangladeshi version of "Golden Rice") developed by Bangladeshi scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) under the team leader, Dr. Swapan Datta. It must be mentioned here that to carry out trial with the above genetically modified rice, BIOSAFETY rules submitted to the Government FOUR YEARS back must be passed forthwith by the appropriate legal bodies and enforced through whatever mechanism that it takes to do this.

Projects of the above kind might even generate income for NIB to support basic and strategic research, and infrastructure and capacity development, needed for establishing the third generation biotechnology required for propelling Bangladesh into the new century and for long term sustainable development.

According to Dr. Ahmed Azad, a Bangladeshi expatriate and a member in the Council of Scientific Advisers (CSA), the Executive Body of The International Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), the latter has expressed interest in supporting member countries like Bangladesh interested in executing such projects.

While making NIB an earning institution, its main objective, namely, doing basic research in problems directly related to the interest of the country must not be lost sight of. For instance, basic research in lignin biotechnology with a view to reducing lignin content in jute without losing mechanical strength of its cell wall needs to be carried out. It has been shown recently that in aspen lignin reduction with concomitant increase in cellulose production has been possible. In this genetically modified aspen, the quality and speed of growth have been enhanced. Jute varieties with a low lignin quantity would be an ideal raw material for paper pulp industry in Bangladesh both from the point of view of reduced cost and quality of paper.

Projects of the highest significance: Ever since the project on the establishment of National Institute of Biotechnology has been approved by GoB, concerned scientists have been advocating to hold a workshop to identify a small number of important projects of great national importance. Although more than 10 years have elapsed, no such workshop has been arranged. The NIB building is ready, but the recruitment of scientific staff needs to be made concomitant with equipping the laboratories to make NIB functional. The few projects to be initiated should be determined a priori before the institute becomes operational. The most important thing to remember in this connection is to identify niche areas, and areas of strength where we could be internationally competitive, and find research leaders with international track record. This is not going to be easy, and will not happen overnight. But we certainly can benefit from the experience of others such as Brazil, India, Thailand, Malaysia.

How to attract Bangladeshi expatriates with international track record: Since GoB cannot pay NIB scientists more than those working in other research institutes in the country, special partnership arrangement between GoB and private institutes such as BRAC need to be made. By this arrangement BRAC may be able to provide high salary to the leader scientists to be hired at NIB along with adequate funding to equip their labs and the cost of reagents to run them. In return the hired scientists will do research on priority areas to be mutually agreed upon by BRAC or any other big NGOs, NIB and concerned departments of GoB. The services of these scientists of high track record may be utilized by the collaborative University to teach Biotech courses at its graduate level and guide students for their research projects.

Scientific staff recruitment procedure: An example will illustrate this point. Last year an assistant professor was to be appointed in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Texas at Austin. Among many applicants, only four were short-listed. On the basis of seminar lecture presentation, only one Bangladeshi, who was then a post-doctoral fellow at UC Berkeley, was selected.

After the selection, the scholar was asked about the amount of lab space, and the new equipment he would require to set up his lab. After some negotiation, he was given three rooms and an amount of $150,000 to remodel his laboratory and an additional grant of $360,000 to buy new equipments, chemicals and to meet recurring lab expenses. In contrast, a newly appointed teacher or a scientific officer in a Bangladesh University/research institute and for that matter in most of developing countries has to struggle for obtaining a reasonable space for his sitting accommodation and research. He has to struggle also to get funding to do independent research. If he is lucky, he gets funding of a small amount from the Ministry of S&T, or some other government source not enough to embark upon a project that he may like to pursue matching his expertise. The two alternatives open to such a brilliant scholars are: (a) to join a political party in order to advance his cause for promotion, instead of competing for a higher post through research, (b) to leave Bangladesh and go abroad where he finds an opportunity to advance his research career.

In order to harness science and technology for the benefit of Bangladesh, young Ph.D.'s, regardless where they earn their degrees, in Bangladesh or abroad, should get adequate facility to embark upon their independent research career. Such a step is vitally important. The facility should include award of adequate grants to enable them to continue and channel their research work on problems related to the development of their country. These scholars should be made accountable for their research work and scholarly conduct. Active politics must not be allowed to enter the portals of research institutions, where utmost dedication is sine qua non to achieve significant results both in basic and applied research.

Training of officials and administrators dealing with S&T issues: Recently some excellent books on human genome, elementary molecular biology and genetically modified crops have been published and they are in Bengali. While the author of the first book is a veteran molecular biologist working in the CSIRO, Australia, the authors of the two other Bengali books are undergraduate students at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dhaka University. These books so lucidly describe these topics of emerging science that anyone with basic scientific knowledge would understand the underlying concept of molecular biology, enabling him/her to take a decision on biology related issues. The author is of the opinion that these three books should form the core course for all competitive examinations.

Ahmad Islam is a retired professor of Botany, Dhaka University.
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