ISAAA: Developing nations faster on the GM uptake

(12 March 2010) In the coming two to three years, China and Brazil may form the vanguard of developing nations that are moving the most rapidly towards genetically modified (GM) crops. According to Clive James, chairman of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA, based in the USA), the speed of such countries will exceed that of wealthier nations.

In its recently-published annual report on the global cultivation of GM crops, ISAAA states that 46 per cent of such fields are found in developing countries. By 2015, GM crops may add more than 70 million hectares to their current field area of 134 million, according to suggestions by the ISAAA chairman. Mr James also refers to China, Brazil, India, Argentina and South Africa as "the big five" expected to utilise Bt crops to enhance yields in the face of stagnant growth in arable land.

Brazil coming second

As an example, Mr James voiced expectation that India will sow GM seeds on a large scale despite the recent administrative ban on commercial release of the Bt line of a local eggplant known as brinjal. Other examples may be given: within a year, Brazil increased its national use of GM plants by a third. With more than 21 million current hectares, the South American country has moved into second place behind the USA as most significant cultivator land of GM crops.

In India, a majority of cotton farmers now use Bt varieties which, in turn, now occupy 85 per cent of crop area. Further, the granting of regulatory approval for GM rice and maize in China may allow as many as 60 million hectares to be planted with these varieties in the coming three years.

China is the largest producer of rice and second-largest producer of maize in the world. Its administration in Beijing approved in November 2009 the initiation of field trials with insect-resistant rice and phytase-producing maize. Within two to three years, the trials should determine whether the transgenic Bt rice is suitable and safe for large-scale use.

Better maize for swine

‘Phytase maize’ will undergo similar trials in China. This variety improves the quality of feed by forming phytase, an enzyme that allows animals more efficiently to process the nutrient phosphate compounds in the stuff they consume. The inclusion of such maize in feed would eliminate the necessity of phosphate supplements and reduce the amount of such compounds entering the environment through animal waste. The maize is intended for use with a half-million swine and thirteen billion poultry on Chinese farms.

See also on GMO-Compass:

• 2009 as well: Cultivation of GM plants continues to rise