Families earn 34 percent more planting Bt corn enough to support a family of five.

Life, says the Andico family of the Philippines, is much better since the government gave the OK to allow the commercial planting of biotech corn, or maize, in 2002.

"I earn big with Bt corn because I only spend for fertilizers and do not need to spray," said Carlos Andico, who farms 5 acres of land near General Santos City. "I could have lived comfortably much earlier if Bt corn was introduced years ago."

Added his wife, Margarita, "Ever since we planted Bt corn … we have peace of mind. Now I do not worry and I get to do other household chores. My children can also look for other jobs because of the lighter work load in the fields."

The testimonial from the Andico family and others supports the findings of a study released Nov. 6, 2003, that said Bt corn enhanced with a naturally occurring soil protein (Bacillus thuringiensis) that protects plants from insect pests such as corn borers significantly boosts farmer incomes.

"Whereas Bt maize could meet the subsistence requirement of a family of five (in the Philippines), conventional maize could not," said the study by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help alleviate hunger and poverty by sharing crop biotechnology applications. 1"Bt maize hybrids consistently performed better than their corresponding conventional maize hybrids, in terms of yield, production cost, profitability and in terms of capacity to meet subsistence needs of farm
families."

The "Global Review of Commercialized Transgenic Crops: 2002 Feature: Bt Maize" study said Bt corn yields in the Philippines the first country in Asia to approve the planting of a biotech food crop were between 41 percent and 60 percent higher than yields for conventional varieties. 2

And although biotech seed corn costs about 80 percent more than conventional hybrid seed, Randy Hautea, director of the ISAAA office in the Philippines, said the net income of farmers who planted Bt corn increased about 34 percent, on average.

"My previous harvest of traditional corn was 80 sacks of corn kernels per hectare," said Rafael Sarmiento, who farms 3.2 acres near General Santos City. "With Bt corn, I now harvest close to 132 sacks of corn kernels per hectare."

In addition, the report from ISAAA, said average yield gains for Bt corn over traditional varieties were an average of 5 percent higher in the United States, 6 percent higher in Spain, and about 10 percent higher in Argentina and South Africa.

In field trials in Brazil and China, where Bt corn has not yet been approved for commercial planting, yields were 24 percent higher and between 9 and 23 percent higher, respectively. Second-generation biotech corn such as the newly approved variety in Canada and the United States that wards off rootworm could produce even more gains, up to a billion dollars in annual gains to the United States alone, said the study. 

"Bt corn offers a unique opportunity to provide developing countries with safer and more affordable food and feed, which can make a major contribution in alleviating the hunger and malnutrition that claim 24,000 lives a day in Asia, Africa and Latin America," said Clive James, chair of ISAAA and author of the report.

James said that since 80 percent of developing world farmers already plant higher-yielding hybrid corn, a network for seed distribution already exists, which could facilitate the wider adoption of the first generation of Bt corn that could produce an additional 35 million metric tons a 5
percent increase. 

That increase could give developing countries a significant boost in meeting rising demand for corn which, by 2020, will surpass wheat and rice as the world's No. 1 crop.

Boosting corn yields will become increasingly important as rising incomes in the developing regions of Asia and Latin America are triggering a shift to more meat consumption, which will cause a dramatic increase for corn-based animal feeds.

The report also noted that developing countries will consume 80 percent of the additional corn needed by 2020, with the lion's share of this increased production being borne by developing world farmers, who make up 98 percent of the world's 200 million corn farmers.

"This is a daunting challenge for developing world farmers, many of them small and resource poor," said James. "The fact that biotechnology incorporates beneficial traits into the seed makes these crops a very appropriate tool for small farmers, as witnessed by the 5 million small
farmers in Asia, Latin America and Africa who have already adopted Bt cotton."

James said Bt cotton is now planted by more than half of China's cotton farmers and is widely used in South Africa and in many other developing countries.

"Farmers are fairly ruthless if the technology doesn't perform," said James, explaining that farmers wouldn't use the enhanced seeds if they didn't work. In 2002, the amount of land planted worldwide with biotech crops increased by 12 percent the sixth straight year that global
farmers have adopted biotech crops at a double-digit pace. James said he expects to see a similar increase for 2003. 

He explained that Bt corn can cut in half the estimated 9 percent loss of the global corn harvest to insect pests, while at the same time making food and feed safer by minimizing insect damage and lowering levels of harmful mycotoxins. In addition, the wider adoption of Bt corn could cut pesticide spraying by up to half, or 5,000 metric tons.

"There is now clear evidence that food and feed products from Bt corn are often safer than the corresponding products from conventional corn because of lower levels of the mycotoxin fumonisin," said James.

Fumonisin is produced when insects burrow into corn stalks and kernels, allowing fungi to enter and produce a harmful mold. While mycotoxin levels are closely monitored in the industrial world, they are not monitored in many developing countries in the tropics where the threat from fungi is
greatest.

"Minimizing insect damage through Bt corn has significantly reduced concentrations of fumonisin in food and feed," James said. "This is a major benefit in developing countries where levels of the harmful mold are higher in food and feed and where corn is directly used as food by a
significant portion of the population."

In 2002, Bt corn accounted for approximately 7 percent of the global corn area about 10 million hectares. The study projects adoption of Bt corn could be extended to between 28 percent and 32 percent of the global corn area 40 to 45 million hectares. Wider adoption and benefits could be
made available from five second-generation Bt corn varieties expected to be commercialized in the next three years. 

Bt corn is now planted on about 49,000 acres of land in the Phillippines. The government approved the commercial planting of the crop as a way "to help the poor of our country," according to the secretary of agriculture.