CHINA scored the most important development in biotechnology in 2009 when it approved the biosafety and food-safety viability of a genetically modified (GM) rice variety—Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) rice—that would lead to increased rice yield of 2 percent to 6 percent, and help attain  the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015, an international biotechnology expert said on Monday.

If that variety is adapted in the Philippines, it could help the country solve its rice shortage, he added.

China’s Bt rice—with the Bt gene protein incorporated into the seed so the plant could directly ward off insects—will be available commercially in two to three years.

“Without doubt, if you look at the developments in 2009, it [China’s approval of Bt rice] is by far the most important one,” Dr. Clive James, founder and chairman of International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA), told the BusinessMirror in an interview over the weekend.

“Rice is the most important food crop in the world, and it is the most important food crop of the poor of the world. So by increasing the production of biotech rice we are also addressing poverty alleviation,” James said.

“It is a big breakthrough. It is like breaking a glass ceiling in terms of rice. Many people will look to China as a role model,” he said.

James pointed out that biotechnology, through the development of Bt rice—which is planted in 150 million hectares worldwide, 90 percent in Asia, with 30 million hectares in China—would help address poverty alleviation and contribute to halving poverty by 50 percent in 2015.

“As you know, we as a global society, we made a promise [through the MDGs] to decrease hunger by 50 percent. We believe that this technology can play a very important contribution to that effect,” he added.

At the same time, China approved the biosafety requirements of phytase maize in 2009. It is also expected for commercialization in two to three years.

Corn is a very important feed crop. With phytase maize, it makes pigs digest more phosphorous—that enhances their growth—while reducing pollution from reduced phosphate levels in animal waste.

Phytase maize, the technology for which originated in China, would make meat cheaper, James said.

“As you create wealth in China, they are consuming much more meat. So phytase maize is a very important,” he said.

He said China has 50 percent of the pigs in the world. From about 5 million in 1968 it now has about 508 million pigs.

“Feeding this improved maize to these pigs would improve the meat production, bring down the cost of meat and that is exactly what you need as China consumes more meat,” James said.

Likewise, China has 13 billion heads of poultry animals, which could be fed from the new GM corn variety that can be planted in its 13 million hectares of maize farms.

The Philippines also has a substantial number of hog and poultry farms that could benefit from the technology if it is adapted in the country.

James presented on Monday to the biotech community and the media in the Philippines a report titled “Global status of Commercialized Biotech/GM crops 2009.”

The report said that in 2009, 14 million small and large farmers in 25 countries planted 134 million hectares of biotech crops, or an increase of 7 percent or 9 million hectares over 2008.

James said the Philippines, which plans to produce 98 percent of rice, could achieve self-sufficiency in rice from Bt rice.

The Philippines has imported 2.4 million metric tons (MMT) of rice, which are expected to be delivered before the lean month of July. The country harvested 16.26 MMT of rice from a total of 4.53 million hectares planted to palay in 2009.

In 2008, a rice-supply crisis in the Philippines forced the government to import at high prices, causing rice prices worldwide to skyrocket.

“China is producing biotech rice because it wants to increase self sufficiency. It wants to decrease dependence on others on food feed and fiber. It believes that that’s the start issue. I believe that’s a very important concept,” he said.

He noted that 110 million households in China grow rice. Assuming an average family size of four, 440 million people will benefit directly from the new rice technology.

“Of course when you produce it, all 1.3 billion people in China who are rice consumers will benefit. This is a very, very big initiative. It will impact not only in China but also in other countries in Asia, where 90 percent of rice is consumed and grown. So this is a major development.”

To dispel critics’ fear of biotech crops for food, James explained that Bt rice is not the first food crop that would be available for commercialization.

He said in US and Canada, 70 percent of the food bought by 300 million population of the two countries are GM.

“They have been eating GM for 14 years. The good news, of course, is that there was not even a suggestion of a problem in terms of food,” he pointed out. The ISAAA report said that products from biotech crops in the US include soybean, maize, cotton (oil), canola, papaya and squash.

He added that about 70 percent of white maize grown in South Africa is used as food; papaya is consumed as food in China and in the US.

In Photo: Dr. Clive James, ISAAA chairman, shares a light moment with Dr. Emil Javier, president of the National Academy of Science and Technology, at the forum on the global prospects for biotech crops.  (Nonie Reyes)