THE ROLE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN THE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN KSA: A REVIEW

Traditional biotechnology is defined as using organisms to make products, improve plants, animals or microbes in purpose of using them in agriculture, industry, medical purposes and environment protection through traditional methods, e.g. hybridization, mutants or fermentation. While, modern biotechnology is basically the same, but through employing modern genetic engineering techniques, e.g. recombinant DNA, monoclonal antibodies or cell and tissue culture. It is clearly indicated that there is a global increase of the cultivated area of genetically modified crops (e.g. soybeans, corn, tomatoes, canola and sugar beet) from 1996 to 2014. Moreover, industrial crops such as cotton combat the adverse environmental conditions and solve the problems of desertification, drought and food production, medicine and afforestation of desert land. In conclusion, we see an excellent possibility of employing biotechnology applications for solving environmental and agricultural problems of Saudi Arabia, especially water, feed and food shortages. It is worthwhile for the Saudi government to include biotechnology applications in the Saudi “2030 Vision” and to subsidize biotechnology research and applications in order to overcome the drought and salt tolerance barriers, especially for the mainstays of food and feed in the kingdom such as Date Palm, Barley, Millet and Alfalfa. Besides the potential of investment in biofuels research and production, there is a good niche for the conservation and utilization of the available genetic resources in Saudi Arabia. Hence, there is an urgent need for Saudi Arabia to establish a legal foundation in agricultural biotechnology for future applications in order to encourage the research and investment in biotechnology and to increase the public awareness and acceptance.