THE International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) has warned that the proliferation of counterfeit Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn seeds in the local market could cut the country’s yellow corn production.
Worse, the ISAAA said, the uncontrolled and unregulated spread of fake genetically modified (GM) corn seeds would “jeopardize the longevity and efficiency” of the technology, resulting in lower income for Filipino farmers.
“The large decline of biotech maize area in the Philippines due to counterfeit seeds needs immediate attention because, if not attended to, this will jeopardize the longevity and efficiency of the technology that will weigh heavily on farmer profitability and economic benefits,” the ISAAA said in its annual report on the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech released on June 26.
In its report, titled “Biotech Crop Adoption Surges as Economic Benefits Accumulate in 22 Years,” the ISAAA said the total hectarage planted with biotech maize in the Philippines declined by 21 percent to 642,000 hectares, from 812,000 hectares last year.
This is despite a 10.42-percent expansion in the country’s total corn area in 2017, driven by favorable weather conditions. Total area planted with corn last year reached 1.378 million hectares, from the 1.248 million hectares recorded in 2016.
The reduction in the area planted with authorized Bt corn seeds resulted in an 18.6-percentage point decline in the adoption rate of the technology to 46.5 percent in 2017, from 65.1 percent in 2016.
“Biotech maize area and adoption rate decreased because according to industry analysts, there was a proliferation of counterfeit biotech maize seeds,” ISAAA said.
Seed industry stakeholders estimate that about 10 percent of the Bt corn seeds sold in the domestic market are counterfeit.
Counterfeit Bt corn seeds are seeds that contain traits belonging to registered and regulated multinational firms but are produced and sold by unauthorized people.
ISAAA explained that they only took into account in their study the regulated and authorized Bt maize seeds sold in the Philippine market.
Due to the reduction of area planted with Bt maize, the Philippines fell to 13th place—from 12th place in 2016—among countries with the largest hectarage for commercialized biotech crop.
ISAAA Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology Director Rhodora R. Aldemita told the BusinessMirror that the area planted with Bt maize could shrink further if the issue on
counterfeit seeds it not addressed immediately. This could lead to farmers earning less than what can they achieve with branded and authorized Bt maize seeds, Aldemita explained.
“The farmers will also suffer because in the long run they will see that they are losing money,” she said.
Aldemita said the country’s yellow corn output last year could have grown even beyond if there were no counterfeit seeds sold in the market and planted by the farmers.
“[The counterfeit seeds] have reduced the area but the productivity has increased. That means if we increased the area much more—if the 10 percent was not counterfeit—then we could have achieved higher production,” she said.
At least 80 percent of the country’s yellow corn production are GM.
Coalition for Agriculture Modernization of the Philippines Inc. Benigno D. Peczon echoed Aldemita’s statement, adding that the proliferation of fake Bt corn seeds puts the technology beyond the crop at risk.
Pecson explained that using fake Bt corn seeds will give corn borers a chance to grow immune to standard Bt corn, likening the effect to antibiotic immunity. “What happens is the bacteria becomes immune to it, the same thing with the borers because of the halfway measures of the seeds,” he told the BusinessMirror.
“Those who use the authorized corn seeds would still earn profit. But those who will gamble and will use the fake corn [seeds], they may or may not get the good results but the danger is for everybody,” he added.
The ISAAA study showed that the farm-level economic benefit of planting Bt corn from 2003 to 2006 was estimated to have reached $724 million.
In 2016 alone, the net national impact of Bt corn on farm income was estimated at $82 million.
More than 470,500 Bt corn farmers and their families in the past 14 years have benefited from the economic gains provided by the commercialization of Bt maize in the country, according to ISAAA.
Jenn Kiana Louise N. Cardeno and Monique Danielle A. Fernando with additional reporting from Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
Image credits: Nonie Reyes