Project: PROBIOMA Improvement of Qualitycontrol in the Production of Bioregulators for Integrated Pest Management in Bolivia (PROBIOMA) Funding: Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BmaA), Amazonia Network Executive summary The project enables the enforcement of the not-for-profit, non-governmental organization "PROBIOMA" in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. One of the main activity areas of this NGO is the production of "bioregulators" for the application in integrated pest management systems and bio-fertilizers in organic farming. "PROBIOMA" works in close contact with the local indigenous farmers and sees his activities as a measure against the uncontrolled application of environmentally harmfull agro-chemicals, such as fungicides and pesticides in conventional agricultural management practices, as they are extensively performed in the area around Santa Cruz. 
Experts of AMAZONIA NETWORK identified a need to establish a qualitycontrol (QC) for the production of the "bioregulators" in the laboratory of "PROBIOMA". High quality lab equipment (centrifuges, thermocycler, gel electrophoresisand gel documentation system) and consumables (enzymes, fine chemicals, media) were purchased from funding resources and AMAZONIA NETWORK implemented a 2-weeks workshop to train the PROBIOMA crew in state-of-the-art molecular biological methods to establish a QC. The crew of PROBIOMA is now capable to perform their own QC analyses for their products in the lab. By establishing QC it is now possible to perform a more efficient production, because eventually occurring contaminations are detected earlier. The purity of the products is now controlled at 4 check points with standard operation protocols throughout the production process. The documentation of this QC guaranties the product quality for the applicants. It is to be expected that the acceptance of the production-controlled bioregulators (e.g.: Beauveria bassiana and Verticillium lecanii) by the potential applicants will be higher from now on and cumulate in a broader application in the region around Santa Cruz, and later also in other departments of Bolivia. 
The equipment, set up at PROBIOMAs lab will be useful to bring much more methods into action. So will it be possible to detect genetic modified organisms (GMOs) in feed, seeds or food. Another future activity can be the identification and characterization of genetic resources from microbes and plants, to develop new bioregulators, bioactivators and biological fertilizers, which can be sustainably used in organic farming management systems. |
