Farmers may soon find themselves effectively fighting global warming and climate change by planting biotech crops.

This was according to Dr. Vic Alpuerto, who said that biotech crops, genetically engineered to have superior traits, help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, as they generally require lesser chemicals to enhance growth and increase yield and protection from pests and diseases.

Alpuerto, who works for the commercial acceptance unit of Monsanto Philippines, said biotech crops such as the controversial Bt corn, induced with Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacteria found in soil that naturally kills insects like the Asian Corn Borer (ACB), is designed to be pest resistant, reducing cost in the application of harmful chemicals that contribute to carbon dioxide emission.

Some crops are now being developed to become resilient to adverse weather conditions, such as prolonged agricultural drought and super typhoons brought about by global warming and climate change, the Philippines being one of the worst affected among developing countries in 2006.

Alpuerto spoke about biotech crops and climate change during the 5th Philippine National Corn Congress held from January 9 to 12 in IloIlo City. Sponsored by the Philippine Maize Federation, Inc., the meeting gathered around 800 participants from various industries in the corn subsector.

Monsanto, a multinational seed technology company, developed a herbicide tolerant and pest resistant, and a combination of both traits into one variety through genetic engineering. The said seed technology was released commercially for feed and propagation in the Philippines in early 2000.

According to the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), total areas planted to genetically-engineered corn in the Philippines has reached the 250,000 mark as of December 2007, and is projected to increase at a rate of 20 percent to 30 percent this year.

Alpuerto cited the significant contribution of the herbicide-tolerant Roundup Ready corn variety the company developed for upland areas in mitigating global warming and climate change. The Roundup Ready corn helps capture carbon dioxide that are being emitted into the air during the cultivation of soil for enhanced growth and increased yield.

“Using Roundup Ready corn requires minimum, if not zero tillage, thus carbon dioxide emission is drastically reduced,” he said.

The genetically engineered corn variety is gaining popularity among upland corn farmers in the Panay Island, particularly the province of Iloilo, who saw the economic opportunity in planting the biotech crop. Corn plantations are rapidly expanding in the upland areas of Sara, Iloilo, Lemery and San Dionicio, in the province of Iloilo.

“With the reduction of harmful chemicals such as pesticide, you help reduce global warming as their production also entails carbon dioxide emission,” he said.

Alpuerto said with more and more farmers choosing the plant biotech crops, such as the Philippines, the use of harmful chemical that amount to carbon dioxide emission is also reduced. (biolife news service)