A total of 70 countries adopted biotech crops through cultivation and importation in 2018, the 23rd year of continuous biotech crop adoption, according to the “Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops in 2018,” a report released by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) recently.
Twenty-six countries—21 developing and five industrialized countries—planted 191.7 million hectares of biotech crops, which added 1.9 million hectares to the record of plantings in 2017.
The continuous adoption of biotech crops by farmers worldwide indicate that biotech crops continue to help meet global challenges of hunger, malnutrition and climate change, the ISAAA report said.
In 2018, it was reported in the “United Nations’ State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” that hunger is growing for three consecutive years, and at the levels equivalent to the records a decade ago.
Furthermore, the 2017 Global Report on Food Crises revealed that hunger and malnutrition continue to rise, with around 108 million individuals in 48 countries at risk or in severe food insecurity.
Biotech crops, developed with improved traits—such as increased yield, more resistance to pests, improved nutrition, among others, are undeniably necessary to address these global challenges affecting the lives of so many families globally, ISAAA said.
The Philippines is among the countries planting biotech crops, specifically Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn since 2003. With the increase in number of farmers and hectarage planted to Bt corn, the Philippines has become No. 13 among the 18 biotech mega-countries for its 600,000 hectares planted to Bt corn.
Biotech mega-countries are those that grow at least 50,000 of biotech crops.
Rosalie Ellasus, a farmer from Pangasinan, Philippines, said that she adopted Bt maize because she gained more yield with less production cost, compared to conventional maize varieties.
“There was not even a trace of pests considering that we did not apply insecticide. Furthermore, we no longer need to visit our maize field every day, and this gives us peace of mind,” Ellasus added.
“GM [Genetically modified] technology has contributed to all facets of food security. By increasing yields and reducing losses, it contributed to food availability for more families. By enabling farmers to improve their processes and join the modern supply chain, it improved physical access to food,” said Dr. Paul S. Teng, ISAAA board chairman.
He said that through raising farmer and rural incomes, “it [biotech] improved economic access to food.”
Teng added: “Through rigorous standards of food safety and hygiene programs, it contributed to better food utilization.”
He explained: “While agricultural biotechnology is not the only key in enhancing global food security, it is an important scientific tool in the multidisciplinary toolkit.”
In countries with long years of high adoption—particularly USA, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and India—adoption rates of major crops are at levels close to 100 percent, indicating that farmers favor this crop technology over the conventional varieties.
More farmers’ and consumers’ needs, more diverse biotech crops with various traits became available in the market in 2018.
These biotech crops include potatoes with non-bruising, non-browning, reduced acrylamide and late blight resistant traits; insect resistant and drought tolerant sugar cane; non-browning apples; and high oleic acid canola and safflower.
The ISAAA report also highlighted the following key findings:
- The top 5 countries with the largest area of biotech crops planted (USA, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and India) collectively occupied 91 percent of the global biotech crop area.
- Biotech soybeans reached the highest adoption worldwide, covering 50 percent of the global biotech crop area.
- The area of biotech crops with stacked traits continued to increase and occupied 42 percent of the global biotech area.
- Farmers in 10 Latin American countries planted 79.4 million hectares of biotech crops.
- Nine countries in Asia and the Pacific planted 19.13 million hectares of biotech crops.
- In Asia, Indonesia planted for the first time a drought-tolerant sugar cane developed through a public (University of Jember) and private (Ajinomoto Ltd.) partnership.
- The Kingdom of eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) joined South Africa and Sudan in planting biotech crops in Africa, with the introduction of IR cotton. Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya and Malawi granted approvals for planting IR cotton, opening Africa to biotech crop adoption.
- In Europe, Spain and Portugal continued to adopt biotech maize to control European corn borer.
- More area planted with biotech crops for farmer and consumer needs, besides the above-mentioned items, including insect-resistant eggplant and low-lignin alfalfa, among others.
- Various food, feed and processing approvals for Golden Rice, Bt rice, herbicide tolerant cotton, low gossypol cotton, among others.
- Cultivation approvals for planting in 2019 include new generation herbicide tolerant cotton and soybean, low gossypol cotton, RR and low lignin alfalfa, omega-3 canola, and IR cowpea, among others.
”We were fed up with weeding and spraying pesticides to control bollworms and weeds. When the technology was introduced, we rapidly picked it up,” said Frans Mallela, a farmer from Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Le Thanh Hai, one of the early adopters of biotech maize in Vinh Phuc Province, Vietnam, said that biotech maize has helped revive maize farming in their province and stressed that many farmers now grow biotech maize because of its benefits.
1 comment
My brother suggested I might like this web site. He was totally right.
This post actually made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info!
Thanks!