1. Expert consultation meeting for regional Agriculture Biotechnology Cairo – Egypt 15-16 December 2007 Current Status of Agriculture Biotechnology in Saudi Arabia Nasser Al-Khalifah King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology مركز أبحاث التقنية الحيوية

2. Introduction Biotechnology is nowadays a strong tool in the hands of scientists for use to promote many aspects of biological applications. It is a resultant of a group of science fields. It is partly biochemistry as it deals with promoters and inhibitors, microbiology as micro organisms are widely used as tools of transformation, and molecular biology as the genetic materials are the most common tools of biotechnology.

3. Saudi Arabia as a developing country has considered benefiting from biotechnology. Biotechnology in agriculture is becoming increasingly important in the development process of Saudi Arabia. Because of the significant role of the private sector in biotechnology, this new technology brings with it important and complex intellectual property issues.

4. Agriculture Biotechnology It is a group of technologies that work individually or together and implemented to develop a plant, animal or micro bio- product to develop Agriculture in plant Production and protection, animal husbandry or products that finally leads to the service of human

5. The current Status implementation Saudi Arabia has moved to advanced steps in its strategic plans to implement Biotechnology. KACST as the concerned governmental department for science and technology had finalized its national plan 5 years ago which includes Biotechnology fields. This year (2007) KACST also making the final draft of strategic plan. This plan includes 13 technologies,Biotechnology is one of them. The biotechnology implementation will be mainly in Agriculture, Health and Environment for the next five years

6. The Agricultural strategic plan تربية و تحسين إنتاج النبات تربية و تحسين إنتاج الحيوان إنتاج المواد الحيوية تحسين وقاية النبات مدرسة التقنية الحيوية – المعهد الملكي للتقنية –KTH هيئة التقنية الحيوية وأبحاث العلوم الأحيائية BBSRC المعهد الماليزي للبحوث والتطوير الزراعي MARDI معهد بحوث التقنية الحيوية BRI مركز التقنية الحيوية الزراعية ABC معهد جورج مندل للأحياء الجزيئية النباتية GMI المعلومات الحيوية الجينوم و البروتيوم النانو الإحيائية الأحياء الجزيئية التخمير و المفاعلات الحيوية الزراعة النسيجية مركز ابحاث الطب البيطري ج القصيم - القصيم مركز ابحاث الجمال ج م ف الاحساء مركز التميز لبحوث التقنية الحيوية ج م س الرياض مركز التميز لأبحاث النخيل ج م ف الأحساء المركز الوطني لابحاث الزراعة وزارة الزراعة الرياض وزارة الزراعة هيئة الغذاء و الدواء وزارة التجارة القطاع الخاص الشركاء الأجانب وزارة الزراعة هيئة الغذاء و الدواء وزارة التجارة القطاع الخاص الشركاء الأجانب

7. Interaction of Biotechnology زراعيه بيئيةصحية الجهات ذات العلاقه المدينه الجامعات الوزارات المراكز البحثيه المؤسسات القطاع الخاص معلوماتيه حيوية نانو حيوي تنظيمية مشترك

8. The Biotechnology Research Center Considering the Great importance of biotechnology, KACST has established the national Biotechnology Center located in its campus in Riyadh, The mission of this center is to lead the national efforts in this field mainly in medical,Agriculture and environment. It is considered as an application of KACST strategic plan. Now BRC is carrying out research and coordinating with national and international similar institutes to facilitate Biotechnology in proper means

9. التشخيص المبكر الخلايا الجذرية الإنتاج الدوائي العقاقير الشخصية العلاج الجيني صحي التحوير الوراثي الأصول الوراثية الإنتاج الحيواني زراعي الوقود الحيوي المعالجة الحيوية البيئي Biotechnology Directions

10. Administration and regulation The National committee for Biotechnology 1992 The National committee for bioethics 2001 The National committee for Bio-safety 2002 The National committee for Biodiversity 1996 The national Sci. & Tech. Plan 2000 KACST Bio- tech Strategic Plan 2007

11. The current Status Research Research mainly funded by KACST as a major governmental research funding body. Now other than the General research Grants Program KACST also funds research through internal fund. Beside these there will be Centers of Excellence programs which is part of the strategic plan implementation and will be a source of another research fund.

12. The current Status Research Granted Budget InstitutionTitle 168.000KSU Induced Genetic Mutation in Wheat by Diethyl Sulfate. 883.375KSU Potato Diseases and Production of Pathogen -Free Potato Clones Via Tissue Culture in Saudi Arabia. 479.000KFSHRC Genetic Epidemiologic Studies of Selected Neurologic Diseases in Saudi Children. 625.000KSUG Induction and Selection of Salt and Drought Tolerant Lines of Wheat by Plant Tissue Culture. 810.160KFUH Studying the Productivity of Native Chickens and the Possibilities of their Genetic Improvement in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Examples of Annual Research Program Projects Related to Biotechnology

13. The current Status Research Examples of Limited Grants Program Projects Related to Biotechnology Granted Budget InstitutionTitle 80.000KSU Patterns of Susceptibility or Resistance of Local Clinical Isolates to Commonly Used Antibiotics Correlation with Antibiotics Consumption with Mech. 72.766KAU Routine Use of Prophylactic Antibiotics in Cesarean Section: A Multi Center Prospective Double-Bond Placebo-Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial. 99.580KFU-H Residues of Diethylstilbesterol (DES) and Antibiotics in Milk, Meat and Eggs. 84.900KFU-H Screening and Identification of Resistant Plasmids in Multi-Drug Resistant Gram- Negative Bacteria Isolated from Riyadh Area.

14. The current Status Applications Bio Centers  Training and Research  Development of 2 tissue culture protocols for date palms  Field trials of tissue culture date palms. KACST & King Faisal Univ. Date Palm Research Center, Hofuf.  Training and Research  Development of tissue culture protocols for arak (Salvadora persica), date palm, KACST & King Saud Univ. Plant Production Department K. Saud Univ. Riyadh  Training and Research  Development of tissue culture protocols for arak (Salvadora persica), date palm, pomegranate, potato, and strawberries. KACST & King Saud Univ. Qassim. University  Production of active metabolites by tissue culture. KACST & King Saud Univ. Pharmaceutical Department. KSU  Serological typing of potato virus diseases using ELISA.  Development of a tissue culture protocol for potato. Ministry of Agric. National Agricultural and Water Research Center, Riyadh.  Development of tissue culture protocols for date palm and salt tolerant plants  Classifying Date palm Tree ’ s Polymorphism. KACST & Japanese Cooperation Tissue Culture Lab, Environmental Scientific Institute, KACST, Riyadh.  Development of 2 tissue culture protocols for date palm.  Field trials of tissue culture date palms.  Technology Development  Micropropagation of date palm.  Commercial Production.  Sales of micropropagated date palms to farmers. Revenue from sales Private Tissue culture labs Companies.6 labs all over KSA

15. The current Status Research Granted Budget SR YEAR Title 1.400.000 2002-2007 Studying the possibility of raising some firewood trees and shrubs and their economical and ecological importance in the central region of Saudi Arabia. 1.200.0002003- 2007 'Study of flower abnormality and fruit set failure in in-vitro derived trees of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.)' 1.100.0002007- Applications of Biotechnology Techniques in Tomato Production and Improvement Under Arid Conditions of Saudi Arabia 2006- Molecular Classification of Saudi Arabian camel based on RAPD techniques 2005 Studies on red weevil behavior and effect on Date palm trees in KSA Example of some on going research Projects Related to Biotechnology in KACST

16. Cereal production in Saudi Arabia

17. Food Production and Trade In Saudi Arabia

18. Value (US $ 000)Quantity (Mt)CommodityNo 574002492106Chicken Meat1 374352 2,400000Wheat2 282292900,540Dates3 124,164143,000Egg4 239,346900,000Cow Milk5 104,257440003Tomatoes6 82,69241,800Sheep Meat7 75.060400,000Vegetable Fresh8 55,95739,938Camel Meat9 50,288140,000Citrus Fruits10 47,157101,653Grapes11 47,13022,787Cattle Meat12 46,546320,897Potatoes13 43,541245,564Melons14 30,831182,769Cucumbers15 30,743294,843Watermelons16 29,735243,746Sorghum17 29,06919,092Goat Meat18 28,75090,000Camel milk19 28,712180,000Fresh Fruits20 Commodity Production in Saudi Arabia, FAOSTAT, 2005

19. Value (US $ 000)Quantity (Mt)CommodityNo 5928461205129Paddy rice1 5342863854589Barley2 456457427195Chicken Meat3 44600978549Food Prepared4 297709112630Cow Milk5 27119514633Cigarettes6 2414692379159Sheep7 2007321581119Maize8 17361422496Infant food9 16221353097Cheese10 127856498933Cake of Soya Beans11 10770137510Pastry12 104467185782Oil of Palm13 9964178080Beverages14 9911748970Beef15 9386127040Processed Cheese16 9707841911Mutton and lamb17 93349541213Sugar18 9226737548Butter of Cow milk19 8500698659Oil of maize20 Commodity Imports in Saudi Arabia, FAOSTAT,2004