The objective of the conference was to take stock of the application of biotechnologies across the different food and agricultural sectors in developing countries, in order to learn from the past and to identify options for the future to face the challenges of food insecurity, climate change and natural resource degradation.

The Conference was dedicated to “agricultural biotechnologies”, a term covering a broad range of biotechnologies used in food and agriculture for a variety of different purposes such as the improvement of plant varieties and animal populations to increase their yields or efficiency; characterization and conservation of genetic resources; plant or animal disease diagnosis; vaccine development; and improvement of feeds and the safety of foods. The Conference was cross-sectoral, covering crops, livestock, forestry, agro-industry and fisheries and aquaculture.

These documents are outcomes of the FAO International Technical Conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10). They present reports on the conference, sessions on successful case studies, sessions on cross-sectoral issues, sessions on region-specific sessions and an information document for 22nd session of FAO's Committee on Agriculture (COAG).