Biotechnology and its scientific base, molecular biology, which encompass a range of scientific applications involving living organisms, could provide the added boost necessary to help agricultural researchers accelerate progress in feeding hungry people in developing countries. Four areas are discussed:
1) the role of biotechnology and molecular biology in developing countries; 2) some accomplishments and basic strategies in molecular biology, particularly for rice; 3) bio- and food safety; and 4) intellectual property (IP). An historical perspective covers accomplishments at IRRI in· tissue culture, marker-aided selection, characterizing biodiversity in genebanks, genetic engineering, and structural genomics. The next challenge is in the area of functional genomics, that is, to discover the functions of genes across the genomes of rice and other crops. To enhance efforts in gene discovery in rice, the creation of a public, well-characterized mutant bank through international collaboration is proposed. Regarding bio- and food safety, IRRI and other international centers are committed to contributing good science that will help regulatory bodies make well-informed decisions on the use of genetically modified organisms. Concerning IP, IRRI and other centers must promote the developing world's right to free access to all the resources and tools of the new biotechnology sciences. IP will be a particularly relevant issue for those involved in functional genomics because of the high likelihood that many new products will result from this research.