Opportunities for Biotechology in Indonesia

The opportunities for biotechnology in Indonesia

Word count: 2475

Submitted on 7th June 2010

Table of contents

S.no | Topic | Page no. |

1 | Introduction | 3 |

2 | Biotechnology in Indonesia | 4-5 |

3 | Opportunities for agricultural biotechnology | 6-9 |

4 | Opportunities for marine biotechnology | 10-13 |

5 | Opportunities for industrial biotechnology | 14-15 |

6 | Constraints | 16-18 |

7 | Conclusion | 19 |

8 | References | 20 |

Introduction

Indonesia is located in the tropical zone. It lies between the Pacific and India Ocean and is one of the largest known archipelagos. It comprises of 17,508 islands which extent 4500 km from west to east and 2000 km from north to south. Of these only about 6000 are inhabited. The total land area of Indonesia is 1.9 million sq km and it has a population of about 230 million people.

Its coast line is 54,716 km long and it has one of the most abundant biodiversities in the world. This biodiversity includes 10% of the world’s plant species, 11% of the world’s flowering species and 17% of the world’s total species (both terrestrial and marine).

The islands have a tropical climate with an average temperature of 26 degrees and a relative humidity that ranges between 70-90%. It has moderate and generally predictable winds with its monsoons lasting from June through October.

Biotechnology in Indonesia

Traditional biotechnology has already been employed in Indonesia. But, Indonesia is lacking in terms of modern biotechnological advances both in theory as well as practice. The first modern biotechnological product that was marketed in Indonesia was insulin and the Hepatitis B vaccine. This was in the early 1980’s. These were produced by recombinant DNA technology.

A significant step forward was needed to be taken for the development of biotechnology in Indonesia. Thus, in 1985, Indonesia officially recognised biotechnology as one of its priorities...