1-ISAAA: PREDICTED SECOND WAVE
OF BIOTECH GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT BEGINS
Developing countries recognize biotechnology
as a key to food self-sufficiency and
prosperity
23-February-2010
ISAAA
Press Release
BEIJING, CHINA (Feb. 23, 2010) –
Last year, ISAAA predicted biotech crops
were poised for a new wave of growth.
Substantial gains have already been
made in 2009 that are starting to bring
that prediction to fruition. With 14
years of regulatory experience, growth
can be accelerated moving forward.
One of the most significant advances
in 2009 included a landmark November
decision by China issuing biosafety
certificates for biotech insect-resistant
rice and phytase maize. As rice is
the most important food crop globally,
feeding half of humanity, and maize
is the most important feed crop in
the world, these biosafety clearances
can have enormous implications for
future biotech crop adoption in China,
Asia, and around the world. The crops
must complete 2 to 3 years of standard
registration field trials prior to
commercialization.
“With last year’s food
crisis, price spikes, and hunger and
malnutrition afflicting more than
1 billion people for the first time
ever, there has been a global shift
from efforts for just food security
to food self-sufficiency,” said
Clive James, chairman and founder
of ISAAA. “With a current population
of 1.3 billion, biotech crops are
a critical component for China and
other countries to gain self-sufficiency.”
As the largest rice producing country,
China suffers significant losses from
rice borer. Bt rice has the potential
to increase yields up to 8 percent,
decrease pesticide use by 80 percent
(17 kg/ha) and generate US$4 billion
in benefits annually.
“This would have a direct and
extensive increase on the prosperity
of about 440 million Chinese who rely
on rice production,” said Dr.
Dafang Huang, former director at the
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
“With hundreds of millions of
small farmers in our country, biotech
crops can serve as an engine for agricultural
economic growth and bring prosperity
to these small farmers.”
China is also the second largest
maize producer in the world, with
about 100 million farmers growing
30 million hectares of the grain.
Increasing prosperity in the country
is creating an increased demand for
animal protein, making maize a key
resource. The improved phytase maize
will allow China’s 500 million
pigs and 13 billion chickens and other
poultry to more easily digest phosphate,
improving the animal’s growth
and reducing the amount of the nutrient
excreted. Currently, phosphate must
be purchased and added to feed, and
it contributes to environmental pollution.
“China’s global leadership
in approving biotech rice and maize
will likely become a positive role
model and influence acceptance and
speed of biotech food and feed crop
adoption throughout Asia and globally,”
James said.
China is just one of 16 developing
countries that grew biotech crops
in 2009. Growth of biotech crops has
been substantially higher in developing
nations – 13 percent or 7 million
hectares in 2009 compared to just
3 percent or 2 million hectares in
industrialized countries. As a result,
almost half (46 percent) of the global
hectarage of biotech crops were planted
in developing countries, where 13
million small farmers benefitted.
“This strong adoption puts
to rest the idea that biotech crops
can only benefit larger farmers and
industrialized countries,” Huang
said. “In fact, countries like
China, with hundreds of millions of
small farmers, have identified biotech
crops as a key to self-sufficiency
to make it less dependent on others
for food, feed, and fiber.”
During 2009 there was a noticeable
growth in appreciation for the essential
role of agriculture by global society.
In fact, the G8 recently approved
US$20 billion over three years “to
help farmers in the poorest nations
improve food production and help the
poor feed themselves.”
The late Norman Borlaug, founding
patron of ISAAA and to whom this year’s
report is dedicated also recognized
this need. He stated that, “what
we need is courage by the leaders
of those countries where farmers still
have no choice but to use older and
less effective methods. The Green
Revolution and now plant biotechnology
are helping meet the growing demand
for food production, while preserving
our environment for future generations.”
2009 Key Highlights
In 2009, 14 million farmers planted
134 million hectares (330 million
acres) of biotech crops in 25 countries,
up from 13.3 million farmers and 125
million hectares (7 percent) in 2008.
Notably, in 2009, 13 of the 14 million
farmers, or 90 percent, were small
and resource-poor farmers from developing
countries.
Trait hectares or “virtual
hectares” reached 180 million
hectares, up 14 million hectares from
2008. Eight of the 11 countries planting
crops with stacked traits were developing
nations.
Brazil surpassed Argentina as the
second largest grower of biotech crops
globally. Impressive growth of 5.6
million hectares to 21.4 million hectares,
up 35 percent from 2008, was the highest
absolute growth for any country in
2009.
Burkina Faso’s biotech cotton
area soared from 8,500 hectares to
a substantial 115,000 hectares, or
from 2 percent to 29 percent of the
country’s total cotton area
– the largest percentage growth
on record at 1,350 percent. Progress
continued in the rest of Africa with
a significant 17 percent increase
in South Africa to reach 2.1 million
hectares and a 15 percent increase
in Egypt to total 1,000 hectares of
Bt maize.
Bt cotton in India has revolutionized
cotton production in the country with
5.6 million farmers planting 8.4 million
hectares in 2009, equivalent to a
record 87 percent adoption rate. India
gained US$1.8 billion from Bt cotton
in 2008 alone and reduced insecticide
use by half.
Costa Rica reported biotech crops
for the first time in 2009, exclusively
for the seed export market, while
Japan began commercialization of a
biotech blue rose.
Six European countries planted 94,750
hectares of biotech crops in 2009,
down from seven countries and 107,719
hectares in 2008, as Germany discontinued
its planting. Spain planted 80 percent
of all the Bt maize in the EU in 2009
and maintained its record adoption
rate of 22 percent from the previous
year.
The top eight countries, each growing
more than 1 million hectares, were:
United States (64.0 million ha.),
Brazil (21.4 million ha.), Argentina
(21.3 million ha.), India (8.4 million
ha.), Canada (8.2 million ha.), China
(3.7 million ha.), Paraguay (2.2 million
ha.), and South Africa (2.1 million
ha.). The remaining countries included:
Uruguay, Bolivia, Philippines, Australia,
Burkina Faso, Spain, Mexico, Chile,
Colombia, Honduras, Czech Republic,
Portugal, Romania, Poland, Costa Rica,
Egypt and Slovakia.
Growth Drivers for Second
Wave of Adoption
Biotech rice and the drought tolerant
trait have been identified as the
two most important drivers globally
for future biotech crop adoption.
China’s biosafety clearance
of insect-resistant rice is likely
to spur faster development of biotech
rice and other biotech crops in other
developing countries. Meanwhile drought
tolerant maize is expected to be deployed
in the United States in 2012 and sub-Saharan
Africa in 2017.
Other key highlights marking the
beginning of the second wave of growth
in 2009 include the approval of SmartStax,
a novel biotech maize containing eight
different genes for insect and herbicide
resistance and planting in the United
States and Canada of the first Roundup
Ready 2 Yield soybeans – the
first product of a new class of technology
that allows more efficient, precise
gene insertion to directly impact
yields.
ISAAA predicts future adoption increases
will also come from:
• significant expansion of biotech
soybean, maize, and cotton in Brazil.
• commercialization of Bt cotton
in 2010 by Pakistan, the fourth-largest
cotton growing country.
• expansion of Bt cotton in
Burkina Faso with potential adoption
of biotech cotton and/or maize in
other African countries including
Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, and Mali.
• adoption of golden rice by
the Philippines in 2012 and Bangladesh
and India before 2015.
Other smaller hectarage crops are
also expected to be approved by 2015,
including potatoes with pest and/or
disease resistance, sugarcane with
quality and agronomic traits, and
disease resistant bananas. Wheat remains
the last major staple crop without
approved biotech traits. However,
political will for the crop is growing
globally. China may be the first country
to approve biotech wheat as early
as 5 years from now. Traits such as
disease resistance are well advanced
while sprouting tolerance and enhanced
quality traits are being field-tested.
China’s public investment in
the crop is likely the largest worldwide.
ISAAA expects the number of biotech
farmers globally to reach 20 million
or more in 40 countries on 200 million
hectares in just more than five short
years in 2015.
For more information or the executive
summary, log on to
www.isaaa.org.
The report is entirely funded by
two European philanthropic organizations:
the Bussolera-Branca Foundation from
Italy, which supports the open-sharing
of knowledge on biotech crops to aid
decision-making by global society;
and a philanthropic unit within Ibercaja,
one of the largest Spanish banks headquartered
in the maize growing region of Spain.
The International Service for the
Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
(ISAAA) is a not-for-profit organization
with an international network of centers
designed to contribute to the alleviation
of hunger and poverty by sharing knowledge
and crop biotechnology applications.
Clive James, chairman and founder
of ISAAA, has lived and/or worked
for the past 25 years in the developing
countries of Asia, Latin America,
and Africa, devoting his efforts to
agricultural research and development
issues with a focus on crop biotechnology
and global food security.
------------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINES
2-PHILIPPINES REMAINS AT THE FOREFRONT
OF BIOTECH ADOPTION IN ASIA
by Jenny A. Panopio
05-March-2010 SEARCA BIC News Release
The Philippines remains to be in
the forefront of GM/biotech corn adoption
in the Asian region being the only
country in Asia to grow GM/biotech
food. In 2009, the area planted to
genetically modified corn is projected
to increase to about 490,000, from
11,000 hectares of Bt corn when it
was first planted in 2003. This is
based on the projection data shared
by the International Service for the
Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
(ISAAA) during the recent Seminar
of its Chair and Founder, Dr. Clive
James, on the Global Overview of Biotech/GM
Crop: 2009 - Current Status, Impact
and Future Prospect. The event participated
by academicians, scientists, regulators,
policy makers, technology developers
and farmers was co-organized by the
National Academy of Science and Technology
(NAST), the SEAMEO Southeast Asian
Regional Center for Graduate Study
and Research in Agriculture (SEAMEO
SEARCA), and ISAAA.
According to the recently published
ISAAA Brief 41, the Philippines has
already gained farm level economic
benefit of planting biotech corn estimated
at US$88 million from 2003 to 2008
adoption. ISAAA also estimated that
the number of small resource-poor
farmers, growing an average of 2 hectares
of biotech corn, was estimated at
250,000 in 2009.
Joseph Benemerito, a small-scale
corn farmer from Alfonso Lista, Ifugao,
started planting biotech corn in 2006.
His corn harvest increased from 3
to 3.5 metric tons per hectare from
conventional corn to 7 to 8 metric
tons per hectare from biotech corn.
Mr. Benemerito is a recipient of National
Best Quality Corn Farmer in 2008 and
shared his own experience in planting
insect resistant, herbicide tolerant
and stacked trait corn during the
seminar.
“Originally, about 12,000 hectares
of land is propagated with corn in
Alfonso Lista. But due to the benefits
derived from adopting biotech corn-
increased yield, lower production
cost and increased net income, area
planted to corn now increased to about
20,000 hectares” shared by Mr.
Benemerito.
With the first hand benefits derived
from planting biotech corn, Mr. Benemerito
remains hopeful that biotechnological
innovation will continue to help small
scale farmers and looks forward to
planting more biotech crops with important
traits. “I do hope that more
scientific researchers be done to
raise the status of our agricultural
sector, more discoveries and commercialization
of GM/biotech crops should be explored
to make farming profitable and sustainable
among farmers throughout the world.
We are now happy with what we have
but getting worried with the El Nino.
I am glad that there are now researches
on drought tolerance. We are also
hoping to have some Bt vegetables
in the future, just like Bt eggplant
and ampalaya (bitter gourd).”
Biotech/GM crops are considered to
be one of the fastest crop technology
adopted in the Philippines. Upon the
initial approval for the commercial
propagation of Bt corn MON 810 in
2002, adoption to GM/biotech corn
tremendously increased through time,
as new traits were approved and introduced
in the market particularly the herbicide
tolerant-corn (Round-up Ready RR corn)
and stacked trait corn (Bt and RR)
which were both propagated in 2005.
The Philippines grew about 2.68M hectares
of corn in 2009, 1.28M hectares is
yellow corn with an average yield
of 3.18 tons/ha. In 2009, about 25.5%
of all yellow corn is biotech.
To date, the Philippines has 49 approvals
for the direct use /importation of
biotech crops for food, feed and processing
for crops such as corn, alfalfa, sugarbeet,
soybean, potato and squash. Five events
have been approved for commercial
propagation.
For additional updates on agricultural
biotechnology in the Philippines, visit
www.bic.searca.org
or email
bic@agri.searca.org.
------------------------------------------------------------
3-NATIONAL SCIENTIST CITES NEED
FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY
by Mitch Arceo
03-March-2010
Manila
Bulletin
Changes in the climate and the environment
are affecting agriculture, according
to national scientist Gelia Castilo.
Castillo said the effects of El Niño
are already evident. One of the effects
of El Niño is lower food productivity
which results in poverty and hunger.
The drought has spread not only in
the Philippines but in other countries
as well. Environmental changes are
creating a big impact on agriculture.
Castillo said crop biotechnology can
help agriculture cope with environmental
changes, citing the work of the International
Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications (ISAAA).
Dr. Clive James, founder and chairman
of the International Service for the
Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
(ISAAA), says crop biotechnology that
can increase yield, and at the same
time conserve nature.
Crop biotechnology was the strong
advocacy of Dr. Norman Borlaug, who
was awarded the Nobel Peace prize
in 1970. This technology not only
improves agricultural productivity
but it provides healthy and affordable
for the people.
In 1996, only six countries adopted
crop biotechnology. Now, 25 countries
all in all are embracing biotechnology.
“As a result of consistent
and substantial crop productivity,
and economic, environmental and welfare
benefits, a record of 14 million small
and large farmers in 25 countries
planted 134 million hectares in 2009,
an increase of 7 percent or 9 million
hectares over 2008. The 80-fold increase
in biotech crop hectares between 1996
and 2009 is unprecedented and makes
biotech crops the fastest adopted
crop technology in the recent history
of agriculture,” said James.
James said that plant biotechnology
can contribute to a sustainable development
in several ways.
Plant biotechnology can increase
supply with less production cost.
Biotech (Bt) crops and genetically
modified crops are found to be more
yielding compared to ordinary crops.
Therefore, this technology can contribute
not only to food security but also
poverty and hunger alleviation.
Most of the world’s poor consist
of farmers in the industrial and developing
countries. Data from the ISAAA shows
that resource-poor farmers in the
25 countries which approved the adoption
of biotechnology are the major beneficiaries
of this agricultural development.
Local farmer Joseph Benemerito, corn
coordinator of the Alfonso Lista Corn
Cluster Federation in Ifugao, can
attest to that. Benemerito started
from growing a single hectare of Bt
crops. But after a few years, his
single hectare of Bt crops has now
expanded to several hectares, producing
more harvest and net income.
Crop biotechnology not only promotes
increased productivity but it also
conserves the world’s biodiversity,
reduce agriculture’s environmental
footprint, and mitigate climate change.
------------------------------------------------------------
4-AREAS PLANTED TO ‘Bt’
CORN 14% WIDER
by Jennifer A. Ng / Reporter
02-March-2010
Business
Mirror
FARMS in the Philippines planted
to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) or
genetically manipulated corn expanded
by around 14 percent to 400,000 hectares
in 2009, according to the International
Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech
Applications (ISAAA).
ISAAA noted that the Philippines
and other developing countries increased
their share of global biotech crop
to almost 50 percent last year, and
the Philippines is among the top five
countries that exhibited an increase
in biotechcrop area of 10 percent
or more.
Ecology and food-safety groups have
repeatedly said the safety of genetically
modified food crops has not been established
due to the lack of information.
They traced lack of data to a number
of reasons: the difficulty of evaluation
owing to GMO crop foods being more
complex; scarcity of publications
on GMO food toxicity; and the industry’s
preference for using compositional
comparisons between GMO and non-GMO
crops.
One of the most prominent is Greenpeace,
which said that genetic engineering
results in genes that do not occur
naturally and their use is “genetic
pollution” and is a major threat
because GMOs cannot be recalled once
released into the environment.
“As in the past, the 2009 percentage
growth in biotech crop area continued
to be significantly stronger in the
developing countries (13 percent or
7 million hectares) than industrial
countries (3 percent or 2 million
hectares),” reported the ISAAA
in its “Global Status of Commercialized
Biotech/GM Crops: 2009” paper.
Its argument for the use of GMO crops
is that the commercialization of Bt
rice and Golden rice alone could feed
at least a billion people in Asia.
The nonprofit international organization
thus remains optimistic of the increasing
acceptability of biotech crops especially
after the Group of 20 major economies
acknowledged the importance of biotech
in reducing poverty and hunger, according
to Dr. Clive James, ISAAA founder
and chairman.
The organization expressed concern,
however, over the possible impact
of the El Niño weather phenomenon
on the expansion of hectarage planted
to GM corn.
“We haven’t come up with
a revised target yet for 2010. It’s
too early to tell. We are still monitoring
the effects of El Niño not
only to Bt corn but also to other
crops, as well,” said Dr. Randy
A. Hautea, global coordinator and
Southeast Asia Center director of
ISAAA, at a media briefing in Makati
on Monday.
ISAAA had projected that farmlands
planted to Bt corn will expand to
480,000 hectares in 2009, from 350,000
hectares in 2008.
Aside from GM corn, Hautea said the
Philippines is also making a multilocation
trial of Bt eggplant and a greenhouse
trial of Bt cotton.
ISAAA estimated that the global biotech
seed market alone was valued at $10.5
billion in 2009 while biotech maize
(corn), soybean grain, and cotton
was estimated at $130 billion in 2008.
Greenpeace slammed commercial interests,
however, for denying the public the
right to know about GE ingredients
in the food chain, “and therefore
losing the right to avoid them despite
the presence of labelling laws in
certain countries.”
“Biological diversity must
be protected and respected as the
global heritage of humankind, and
one of our world’s fundamental
keys to survival. Governments are
attempting to address the threat of
GE with international regulations
such as the Biosafety Protocol,”
it said.
“When they are not significantly
different, the two are regarded as
‘substantially equivalent,’
and therefore the GM food crop is
regarded as safe as its conventional
counterpart. This ensures that GM
crops can be patented without animal
testing,” according to the groups.
However, substantial equivalence
“is an unscientific concept
that has never been properly defined”
and there are no legally binding rules
on how to establish it.
Greenpeace also said GMO foods may
cause bacteria to become resistant
to antibiotics and they can also produce
allergies.
------------------------------------------------------------
5-HIGH-YIELD CORN EXPANSION
TO SLOW DOWN BECAUSE OF EL NIÑO
by Katrina Mennen A. Valdez (Reporter)
02-March-2010
Manila
Times
HIGH-YIELD grain varieties are unlikely
to help the Philippines weather this
year’s El Niño, according
to a farm biotechnology expert.
On the sidelines of a conference on
Monday, Randy Hautea, director for
Southeast Asia of the International
Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications (ISAAA), said the expansion
of Bt-corn in the Philippines would
slow down because of the lingering
dry spell.
Hautea said the growth in the area
planted to Bt maize would be volatile
since this crop, just like ordinary
corn, will not be spared from El Niño.
“We cannot give [a] projection
for this year yet since the dry spell
would have a significant impact in
terms of Bt maize growth in the Philippines,”
he said.
Bt-corn is a variant of maize that
is genetically altered to release
a toxin against insects.
At present, three million hectares
of land are planted to corn nationwide,
he said. About half of this is devoted
to white corn for human consumption,
while the other half is for yellow
corn or those used for animal feeds.
There are two types of corn for animal
feeds: the open pollinated and the
hybrid corn.
Bt maize accounts for about half
of the total hybrid corn.
In 2008, the area planted to Bt maize
stood at 350,000 hectares. ISAAA had
projected that the area would increase
to 480,000 hectares in 2009. But because
of the unfavorable weather, the actual
area would only be around 400,000,
Hautea said.
The Philippines is the only country
in Asia that has approved the entry
of genetically modified corn. Other
countries fear that the Bt corn would
adversely affect the health of livestock,
which could be possibly passed on
to humans once consumed.
------------------------------------------------------------
6-AREA PLANTED WITH Bt CORN
SEEN TO HAVE FALLEN SHORT
02-March-2010
Business
World
AREA planted with genetically modified
corn (Bt corn) is expected to have
fallen short of the 480,000 hectares
projected for last year in the wake
of damage from storms that hit in
the fourth quarter.
Randy A. Hautea, director for South
East Asia of the International Service
for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech
Applications (ISAAA), told reporters
yesterday that his organization --
which advices the International Rice
Research Institute and the Philippine
Rice Research Institute on genetically
modified crops -- has discovered that
about 400,000 hectares were planted
with Bt corn.
"We are still finalizing the
data, but if [weather] conditions
had only been normal, we would have
achieved the projected 480,000 has
for Bt corn. Aside from the typhoons,
the El Niño dry spell [which
started in December] has also affected
the whole corn industry," Mr.
Hautea said.
Mr. Hautea said most of the areas
planted are in Region 2, or the Cagayan
Valley, a major corn producer that
is also one of the regions now worst
affected by the dry spell.
He declined to give projections for
this year, saying "we do not
know the full effect of El Niño."
------------------------------------------------------------
7-RP AMONG COUNTRIES WITH GROWING
BIOTECH CROP SHARE
by Dennis Estopace (Reporter)
26-February-2010
Business
Mirror
MOST people do not know it and may
believe the environmentalist groups’
drive against genetically modified
(GM) corn being planted in Mindanao
has succeeded, but according to a
nonprofit group, biotech corn (maize)
planted in the country has increased
to 500,000 hectares, making the Philippines
one of the developing nations contributing
in a major way to GM crops.
The latest report of nonprofit International
Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications (ISAAA) noted that the
Philippines had a 25-percent growth
in the size of GM crop area last year.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) had estimated food production
must increase by 60 percent over the
next 25 years to keep up with world
population needs.
Major food crops that had been the
focus of genetic manipulation are
corn and soya, with wheat and rice
lagging due to complications.?
”The country was one of seven
developing countries that exhibited
proportional growth in biotech crop
area of 10 percent or more,”
according to the ISAAA report.
Burkina Faso led these countries
with a 1,353-percent increase in the
hectarage of biotech crop areas, followed
by Brazil, 35 percent, and Bolivia,
33 percent. The Philippines is fourth
in percentage growth.
The United States topped the 25 countries
with 64 million hectares growing biotech
crops—from soybean to sugar
beet, according to the “Global
Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM
Crops: 2009” ISAAA report.
“As in the past, the 2009 percentage
growth in biotech crop area continued
to be significantly stronger in the
developing countries [13 percent and
7 million hectares] than industrial
countries [3 percent and 2 million
hectares],” the report said.
This “strong trend for higher
growth in developing countries versus
industrial countries is highly likely
to continue in the near, mid and long
term, as more countries from the South
adopt biotech crops as crops like
rice, 90 percent of which is grown
in developing countries, are deployed
as new biotech crops.”
The Philippines was also recognized
by the ISAAA report for what it calls
the country’s stacked product
that is said to have “pest resistance
and herbicide tolerance in maize.”
Crops with “stacked gene traits,”
means having more than one engineered
trait in a single variety.
In 2008 the ISAAA estimates that
areas growing stacked traits of biotech
herbicide tolerant (bt/h) maize is
200,000 hectares. A year before that,
the estimate was only some 63,000
hectares growing that crop in the
country.
The Philippines also contributed
to last year’s increase of biotech
crop farmers in the world to 14 million,
with an estimated 250,000 farmers
growing or working on areas growing
biotech corn.
ISAAA forecast the Philippines would
adopt GM golden rice by 2012, which
would help increase future adoption
of biotech crops.
------------------------------------------------------------
CHINA
8-CHINA ‘Bt’ RICE OK TO
BOOST SUPPLY
by Lyn Resurreccion / Section
Editor
02-March-2010
Business
Mirror
Manila, Philippines - CHINA scored
the most important development in
biotechnology in 2009 when it approved
the biosafety and food-safety viability
of a genetically modified (GM) rice
variety—Bacillus thuringiensis
(Bt) rice—that would lead to
increased rice yield of 2 percent
to 6 percent, and help attain the
Millennium Development Goal of halving
poverty by 2015, an international
biotechnology expert said on Monday.
If that variety is adapted in the
Philippines, it could help the country
solve its rice shortage, he added.
China’s Bt rice—with
the Bt gene protein incorporated into
the seed so the plant could directly
ward off insects—will be available
commercially in two to three years.
“Without doubt, if you look
at the developments in 2009, it [China’s
approval of Bt rice] is by far the
most important one,” Dr. Clive
James, founder and chairman of International
Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech
Applications (ISAAA), told the BusinessMirror
in an interview over the weekend.
“Rice is the most important
food crop in the world, and it is
the most important food crop of the
poor of the world. So by increasing
the production of biotech rice we
are also addressing poverty alleviation,”
James said.
“It is a big breakthrough.
It is like breaking a glass ceiling
in terms of rice. Many people will
look to China as a role model,”
he said.
James pointed out that biotechnology,
through the development of Bt rice—which
is planted in 150 million hectares
worldwide, 90 percent in Asia, with
30 million hectares in China—would
help address poverty alleviation and
contribute to halving poverty by 50
percent in 2015.
“As you know, we as a global
society, we made a promise [through
the MDGs] to decrease hunger by 50
percent. We believe that this technology
can play a very important contribution
to that effect,” he added.
At the same time, China approved
the biosafety requirements of phytase
maize in 2009. It is also expected
for commercialization in two to three
years.
Corn is a very important feed crop.
With phytase maize, it makes pigs
digest more phosphorous—that
enhances their growth—while
reducing pollution from reduced phosphate
levels in animal waste.
Phytase maize, the technology for
which originated in China, would make
meat cheaper, James said.
“As you create wealth in China,
they are consuming much more meat.
So phytase maize is a very important,”
he said.
He said China has 50 percent of the
pigs in the world. From about 5 million
in 1968 it now has about 508 million
pigs.
“Feeding this improved maize
to these pigs would improve the meat
production, bring down the cost of
meat and that is exactly what you
need as China consumes more meat,”
James said.
Likewise, China has 13 billion heads
of poultry animals, which could be
fed from the new GM corn variety that
can be planted in its 13 million hectares
of maize farms.
The Philippines also has a substantial
number of hog and poultry farms that
could benefit from the technology
if it is adapted in the country.
James presented on Monday to the
biotech community and the media in
the Philippines a report titled “Global
status of Commercialized Biotech/GM
crops 2009.”
The report said that in 2009, 14
million small and large farmers in
25 countries planted 134 million hectares
of biotech crops, or an increase of
7 percent or 9 million hectares over
2008.
James said the Philippines, which
plans to produce 98 percent of rice,
could achieve self-sufficiency in
rice from Bt rice.
The Philippines has imported 2.4
million metric tons (MMT) of rice,
which are expected to be delivered
before the lean month of July. The
country harvested 16.26 MMT of rice
from a total of 4.53 million hectares
planted to palay in 2009.
In 2008, a rice-supply crisis in
the Philippines forced the government
to import at high prices, causing
rice prices worldwide to skyrocket.
“China is producing biotech
rice because it wants to increase
self sufficiency. It wants to decrease
dependence on others on food feed
and fiber. It believes that that’s
the start issue. I believe that’s
a very important concept,” he
said.
He noted that 110 million households
in China grow rice. Assuming an average
family size of four, 440 million people
will benefit directly from the new
rice technology.
“Of course when you produce
it, all 1.3 billion people in China
who are rice consumers will benefit.
This is a very, very big initiative.
It will impact not only in China but
also in other countries in Asia, where
90 percent of rice is consumed and
grown. So this is a major development.”
To dispel critics’ fear of
biotech crops for food, James explained
that Bt rice is not the first food
crop that would be available for commercialization.
He said in US and Canada, 70 percent
of the food bought by 300 million
population of the two countries are
GM.
“They have been eating GM for
14 years. The good news, of course,
is that there was not even a suggestion
of a problem in terms of food,”
he pointed out. The ISAAA report said
that products from biotech crops in
the US include soybean, maize, cotton
(oil), canola, papaya and squash.
He added that about 70 percent of
white maize grown in South Africa
is used as food; papaya is consumed
as food in China and in the US.
------------------------------------------------------------
9-CHINA ON WAY TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY
IN RICE, CORN
by Marvyn N. Benaning
04-March-2010
Manila
Bulletin
Expert predicts 8 percent
hike in output with use of biotech crops
Manila, Philippines - China is on
the road to sufficiency in rice and
corn and it bodes well for the world
market long bothered by lower output
and the reduction of the grain supply
for export to rice-deficit countries.
Dr. Clive James, founder and chairman
of the non-stock, non-profit International
Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications (ISAAA) said Beijing
made a giant step in November 2009
when it issued biosafety certificates
for biotech insect-resistant rice
and phytase corn.
Rice is consumed by half of humanity
while corn is the single biggest feed
crop on the planet. Corn is consumed
by livestock, poultry and other animals.
With the issuance of such certificates,
James said China would be most likely
cultivate these biotech rice and corn
varieties after the standard two and
three years of standard registration
field trials before commercialization.
The Philippines ranks 11th among
countries that grow biotech crops,
principally corn.
“With last year’s food
crisis, price spikes, and hunger and
malnutrition afflicting more than
one billion people for the first time
ever, there has been a global shift
from efforts for just food security
to food self-sufficiency,” James
added.
“With a current population
of 1.3 billion, biotech crops are
a critical component for China and
other countries to gain self-sufficiency,”
he explained.
Currently the world’s biggest
rice producing country, China had
long been bothered by the dreaded
rice borer, which the Bacillus thuringiensis
(Bt) variety would combat. Bt rice
can raise yields by eight percent,
reduce pesticide use by 80 percent
or 17 kilos per hectare and generate
$4 billion in benefits annually.
“This would have a direct and
extensive increase on the prosperity
of about 440 million Chinese who rely
on rice production,” said Dr.
Dafang Huang, former director at the
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
bic@searcaweb.org.
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