Phl maintains standing in league of 'biotechnology mega-countries'

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna , Philippines  – The Philippines has maintained its standing as one of the world’s “biotechnology mega-countries”.

A “mega-country’s”, as explained by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), grows biotechnology or genetically modified (GM) crops in more than 50,000 hectares.

In 2010, about 270,000 Filipino farmers planted GM or Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) corn in about 541,000 ha, stated a report presented by Dr. Clive James. ISAAA founder and current board chairman, at a recent seminar at the Dusit Thani Manila Hotel in Makati City.

Billed “Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2010”, the annual (2011) science forum was organized by ISAAA, the Los Banos-based Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEAMEO SEARCA), and National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST).

Dr. James reported that the area planted to Bt corn in the Philippines in the 2010 wet and dry seasons was projected to reach 541,000 ha, up by 10 percent from the 490,000 ha has in 2009.

Last year, he said, the country ranked 13th among the world’s 17 biotech “mega-countries” that planted GM maize, soybean, cotton, canola, sugarbeet, alfalfa, papaya, squash, tomato, sweet pepper, potato, and poplar.

About 15.4 million farmers in 29 countries (up from 25 in 2009), mostly (90 percent) resource-poor in developing nations, planted biotech crops in 148 million ha in 2010.

The United States has maintained its topmost position as the world’s number one GM crop planter, devoting 66.8 million ha (more than twice the 30 million has land area of the Philippines) to eight crops, dominated by maize and soybean.

The other biotech “mega-countries” are Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada, China, Paraguay, Pakistan, South Africa, Uruguay, Bolivia, Australia, Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Spain, and Mexico.

The other countries that planted GM crop in 2010 in decreasing order of hectarage were Colombia, Honduras, Chile, Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, Egypt, Slovakia, Costa Rica, Romania, Sweden, and Germany.

Dr. James also cited the Philippines for being “the first in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region to implement a regulatory system for transgenic crops; the system has also served as a model for other countries in the region.”