World’s first GMO peanut

Within three years, a genetically modified organism (GMO) peanut will be commercialized in groundnut-producing countries.

The transgenic peanut variety has been developed by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

India-based ICRISAT is headed by Dr. William D. Dar, former DA Acting Secretary and the first director of the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR). Currently headed by Director William C. Medrano, Bar is the DA agency mandated to "ensure that all agricultural research is coordinated and undertaken for maximum utility to agriculture."

Dr. Dar had earlier told The STAR that the GMO peanut was being tested in greenhouses and fields in India. Results of the initial trial showed that the new peanut yielded 30 percent more than the farmers’ traditional varieties.

As reported by BAR’s Rita dela Cruz, ICRISAT, before coming out with the new groundnut, had screened more than 10,000 peanut line to identify traditional resistance to peanut clump virus (PCV), a type of virus transmitted by a soil-borne fungus. The symptoms of the disease are stunted growth and discolored leaves.

Every year, PCV causes a loss of $40 million in peanut-producing countries across the world. It also affects various economically important crops such as corn, sugarcane, sorghum, cowpea, and other legumes. – Rudy A Fernandez