A nongovernment group and some leaders of the academe have urged the government to acquire more biotechnology crops to increase production while developing the country’s domestic crops.

“We should adopt [biotechnology from abroad] so we can easily…incorporate that in our crops,” Randy A. Hautea, global coordinator and Southeast Asian director of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), said in a briefing yesterday.

Hybrid crops have been reported to reduce crop production costs and increase yields. For instance, the RRC2/YG variety of yellow corn has a yield of 6.4 metric tons per hectare compared with the 5.5 MT/ha of conventional varieties.

ISAAA said farmers that used Bt corn earned an additional P7,482 per hectare, compared with farmers planting convention corn.

“We have to further sharpen our focus on the transgenic traits already commercialized in other parts of the world and incorporate them into our best cultivars,” said Emil Q. Javier, president of the National Academy of Science and Technology.

Crops under field testing in the country include delayed-ripening and ring spot virus-resistant papaya, the beta-carotene rich “golden rice”, and virus-resistant sweet potato.

The agriculture department has sought an increase of in ita R&D to P 2 billion this year from P267 million lat year.