Biotechnology offers great potential to contribute to sustainable agricultural growth, food security and poverty alleviation in developing countries. Twenty-three chapters, written by a wide range of scholars and stake-holders, provide an up-to-date analysis of agricultural biotechnology developments in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

1 Introduction.- I The General Framework.- 2 Transgenic Crops Worldwide: Current Situation and Future Outlook.- 3 Molecular Tools for Plant Breeding.- 4 Managing Biosafety Capacity Development: Technical and Political Aspects.- II Regional Outlook.- 5 The Situation of Agricultural Biotechnology Capacities and Exploitation in Latin America and the Caribbean.- 6 The Current and Future Situation of Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities.- 7 Biotechnology Research in Rice for Asia: Priorities, Focus and Directions.- III Expected Impacts.- 8 The Roles of Economic Research in the Evolution of International Agricultural Biotechnology.- 9 Welfare Prospects of Transgenic Crops in Developing Countries.- 10 Institutional Issues in Biotechnology Applications: Concepts and Empirical Evidence from Kenya.- 11 The Role of Biotechnology for Food Consumers in Developing Countries.- 12 Biotechnology and Global Food Security: A Private-Sector View.- 13 Agricultural Biotechnology and the Seed Industry: Some Implications for Food Production and Security.- 14 A Danger to the World’s Food: Genetic Engineering and the Economic Interests of the Life-Science Industry.- 15 Of Terminator Genes and Developing Countries: What are the Impacts of Appropriation Technologies on Technological Diffusion?.- IV Intellectual Property Rights.- 16 The Economics of Intellectual Property Rights in the Agricultural Biotechnology Sector.- 17 Intellectual Property Rights Issues and Developing Countries: A Private-Sector Perspective.- 18 Intellectual Property Rights Challenges and International Research Collaborations in Agricultural Biotechnology.- V The Role of Different Players.- 19 The Role of the Private Sector in Providing Biotechnology Access to the Poor.- 20 Bringing the Benefitsof Biotechnology to the Poor: The Role of the CGIAR Centers.- 21 The Role of National Agricultural Research Systems in Providing Biotechnology Access to the Poor: Grassroots for an Ivory Tower?.- 22 Agricultural Biotechnology and the Poor: The Role of Development Assistance Agencies.- 23 Conclusions.- Contributing Authors.