GM crops: cultivation areas world-wide increase to 114 million hectares

(January 14, 2007) The cultivation of genetically modified crops worldwide has increased once more. Growing areas have expanded by 12 million hectares to a total of 114 million hectares. In the case of maize, a significant gain of 10 million hectares was noted.

A yearly report on the global cultivation of GM crops is published by the agri-biotechnology agency ISAAA (international Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications).

According to the report, which was presented on 13th February in the Philippines, GM crops are applied commercially in 23 countries, twelve of which are developing nations.

The countries with the largest areas of cultivation for GM crops remain the USA (57.7 million hectares), Argentina (19.1), Brazil (15.0), and Canada (7.0). Noteworthy are the increases in India (2.4 million hectares), Brazil (3.5), Paraguay (0.6) and South Africa (0.4). The ISAAA report cites eight EU Member States in which farmers cultivate GM maize on a total of 110,000 hectares.

For maize, the worldwide cultivation of GM crops has increased from 25 to 35 million hectares, for cotton by 1.6 to 15.0 million hectares and for rapeseed by 0.7 to 5.5 million hectares. For GM soybeans, the cultivation area of 58.6 million hectares remains unchanged since 2006.

In comparison: the total cultivation area of GM crops in Germany is 35 million hectares.

See also on GMO-Compass:

• Cultivation of GM crops: Cultivation Areas Worldwide in 2007 (with statistics and diagrams)

Further information:

• International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA)
• Executive Summary (ISAAA)
• Report summary (video)