FUNDAMENTS OF A BIOTECHNOLOGICAL PROGRAMIN THE FOOD SECTOR

Abstract

This article discusses in a succinct manner some pending questions concerning the option for the internal development of biotechnology in the area of agriculture and, specifically, food production. In an approach so broad as to include everything from the problem of the meaning of the term to the tendencies of vegetal biotechnology in the country, the text attempts to discuss the bases for the elaboration of a national biotechnology program. In this sense, a permanent concern exists with better estimating the whole enormous potential of biotechnology according to its impacts on the socioeconomic structure of the country. The result of this orientation is a peremptory conclusion concerning the fundamental role that the state should play in directing the process of biotechnology development, without which there is a risk of a refined repetition of the perverse consequences verified in the Green Revolution. Thus, at the ende of the article, an interactive model is proposed to restructure the bases of a program for the food production area, considering for this a desirable food supply situation and a gamut of public policies to establish proposals and give political-institutional support.