Pangasinan farmers await release of Bt eggplant

STA. MARIA, Pangasinan ,Philippines  – Farmers in this eggplant-producing province are eagerly awaiting the release of a genetically modified (GM) Bt-talong now the object of years of studies being done by government researchers.

“Kailan po ninyo I-re-release ang Bt-ta-long?” was the common question asked by a number of farmers from this town during a “Farmers’ Field Day” held recently at the farm here of Brig. Gen. (ret.) Marcelo Blande. Main activity during the field day was the harvest of Bt eggplant.

The farm of Blande, one of the strong supporters of biotechnology research in the country, among other sites where multi-location trials are being done to determine, among other things, the resistance of the Bt (Bacillus thuringionsis) or transgenic eggplant against fruit and stem borer (FSB), the most destructive pest attacking eggplants in the Philippines and other parts of Asia.

The other sites are in the University of the Philippines Los Baños-Institute of Plant Breeding (UPLB-IPB) in Los Baños, Laguna; Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (OBSUA) in Pili, Camarines Sur; Visayas State University (VSU) in Baybay City, Leyte; Sta. Barbara, Iloilo; University of Southern Mindanao (USM) in Kabacan, North Cotabato; and UP Mindanao (UP Min) in Davao City.

Same of the experimental plants at UPLB were uprooted by activists belonging to Greenpeace last Feb. 17. The vandals are now facing charges being prepared by the state university against them.

Those in UP Mindanao were also destroyed by anti-GM organism (GMO) intruders from Davao City.

The trials form the penultimate stage of the years-long research on GM eggplant in the Philippines.

Under the four-phased research project, UPLB, in partnership with Cornell University (New York, United States) and Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) in India, is developing an eggplant resistant to fruit and stem borer.

Started in 2006, the project is supported by the Department of Agriculture (DA), International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture-Biotechnology Information Center (SEARCA-BIC), US Agency for International Development (USAID), and Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II.

Initial findings showed that Bt eggplant produces a natural protein that makes it resistant to FSB. Once an FSB caterpillar feeds on Bt eggplant fruits, shoots, and leaves, it stops eating and eventually dies.

The Bt protein affects only the borer and not humans and farm animals.

During the Bt eggplant harvest in Sta. Maria last Feb. 23, the farmers led by Faitan barangay captain Rex Agpawo expressed amazement on the experimental plants’ resistance to FSB, as shown by the absence of borers inside the harvested fruits.

The fruits of the check eggplants planted side by side with the Bt-talong were pockmarked with FSBs.

This prompted the farmers to ask the UPLB researchers when will the transgenic plants be released for commercial production.

Asked how many times the farmers sprayed their eggplants with pesticide, one said “Everyday.” Another volunteered, “Kung minsan po umaga’t hapon.”

After the research, at times disrupted by the vandalistic acts of anti-CMO activists, the government will decide on whether to approve commercial production of the new eggplant depending on the research results.

The project already had gone through the first stage (contained research in laboratories and screenhouses at UPLB-IPB, 2006-2007), second stage (small confined trials, 2007-2009) and the first of the two-season multi-locational trails (Sta. Maria, UPLB-IPB, and CBSUA).

Among those who explained the Bt-talong technology to the farmers during the field day in Sta. Maria were Dr. Emiliana Bernardo, who was also involved in the Bt-corn research project in the country about a decade age; Dr. Lourdes Taylo of UPLB-IPB; and Jennifer Panopio, network coordinator of SEARCA-BIC.

Also present was Rosalio Ellasus, former president of PhilMaize Federation, one of the country’s most successful Bt corn growers and presently municipal councilor of San Jacinto, Pangasinan.

It is to be recalled that anti-CMO activists, oftenly led by Greenpeace, strongly opposed Bt corn when it was yet being studied in the country. At one time, vandals uprooted Bt corn plants in Gen. Santos City (Cotabato).

The government, however, eventually approved the commercial production of Bt corn in 2006. Bt corn is resistant to Asian corn borer, the most destructive pest attacking corn plants in the Philippines and in other parts of Asia.

Today, about half a million hectares, among them in Pangasinan, are planted to Bt corn, making the Philippines among the world’s “biotechnology mega-countries” (these planting GM crops in 50,000 ha or mere).