FARMLANDS planted to Bt corn went up by 4.8 percent to 330,000 hectares last year, from 315,000 hectares a year earlier, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).

In a report on commercial biotechnology for genetically altered crops, entitled Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops 2008, ISAAA noted at least 200,000 small farmers gained from biotech maize in 2008 and an additional income of P7,482 per hectare during the dry season and P7,080 per hectare during the wet season. (See main story in this section.)

“Farmers had additional income because Bt corn yielded more compared to the [traditional varieties] per hectare, the average yield is at around 6 to 7 metric tons [MT],” said Dr. Randy A. Hautea, Global Coordinator and Southeast Asia Center director of ISAAA at the sidelines of a media briefing held in Pasig City. Experts led by the Emil Javier, president of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), say that the additional income gained by farmers from Bt cotton could have reached P2 billion to 3 billion last year.

In its annual study, ISAAA found that an additional 1.3 million farmers planted 10.7 million hectares of biotech crops, including Bt corn, in 2008. ISAAA also noted that 13.3 million farmers in a record 25 countries, including three new countries, planted 125 million hectares of biotech crops last year, the sixth-largest growth spurt in 13 years of reporting. This reflects an increase of 9.4 percent for 2008.

The Philippines was ranked 14 among the top global countries that planted biotech crops in 2008. With these developments, ISAAA expects biotech crops to enter a second wave of “strong adoption” and that future growth prospects are encouraging.

"Political leaders globally are increasingly viewing biotech enhanced crops as a key part of the solution to critical social issues of food security and sustainability,” said Clive James, chairman and founder of ISAAA, who wrote the report.

James noted that in 2008 Group of 8 (G-8) leaders for the first time recognized the significance of biotech crops and raised the call to “accelerate research and development and increase access to new agricultural technologies to boost agriculture production.”