DuPont Philippines, a subsidiary of American firm E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company Inc., does not see a big problem in marketing biotechnology products in the country because of the increasing demand and growing awareness of Filipino farmers on biotechnology.

“With the growing demand for biotech crops and the number of Filipino farmers who have already gained from utilizing these technologies, we do not see any major challenges in providing them with more options in farming,” said Jet Parma, country manager of Pioneer Hi-Bred Philippines of DuPont in an e-mail interview with BusinessMirror.

“This includes our ongoing compliance with postcommercial regulations related to current biotech crops in the Philippines, which includes monitoring field performance and adoption rate to ensure that the benefits enjoyed by farmers today will last for other generations to come.”

Parma said many Filipino hybrid-corn farmers have a high degree of awareness on biotech-enhanced corn varieties which can increase their yields and income.

“These products would either have resistance to the Asiatic corn borer, a prevalent and notorious insect pest, or tolerance to registered glyphosate herbicides that makes it more convenient and practical to spray the chemical for weed control,” he said.

He assured that the biotech corn products being planted by Filipinos had undergone a rigid process. He added that the current biotech products being planted by farmers had undergone a very long and stringent process and evaluation before they were introduced.

Parma said the Philippines is the only country where biotech corn is approved for commercial planting because it has existing biotech regulations in place since 2003.

“As part of the company’s commitment to product stewardship and guiding principles, we complied with all of the regulatory requirements to ensure the safety of this technology to human and animal health, and the environment,” he said.

DuPont Philippines, Parma said, also aims to promote aggressively the success story of Filipino biotech corn farmers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region so the countries in this bloc can benefit from these technologies, establish their own biotech regulations and provide more options to their farmers.

Carlos Guevarra, the 2004 National Gawad Saka awardee, was one of the first farmers who tried DuPont-developed biotech corn in his Pampanga farm.

Edgar de Luna, 2006 National Gawad Saka awardee, also planted a particular biotech corn variety, Pioneer hybrid 30Y80, in Isabela.

DuPont Philippines is also involved in automotive refinish products, architectural laminating sheets, advance fiber systems, flexographic printing plates, electronic materials, engineering plastics, flourochemicals, packaging and industrial polymers, nylon industrial and polyester films, specialty chemicals and white pigments.