Eighteen million farmers chose biotech crops

The report copied to the GNA said 2013 also marks the first-ever commercial plantings of drought-tolerant biotech maize in the United States..

Global biotech crop hectarage has increased from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to over 175 million hectares in 2013.

During this 18-year period more than a 100-fold increase of commercial biotech crop hectarage has been reported with the United States continuing to lead global biotech crop plantings at 70.1 million hectares or 40 percent of total global hectares.

It said Accumulated hectarage of biotech crops planted worldwide to-date stands at 1.6 billion hectares or 150 percent of the total landmass of China, said Clive James, author of the report and ISAAA Founder and Chairman.

Each of the top 10countries planting biotech crops during 2013 planted more than one million hectares, providing a broad foundation for future growth.

According to the report, more than 90 percent, or 16.5 million, of farmers planting biotech crops are small and resource-poor.

Of the countries planting biotech crops, eight are industrial countries and 19 are developing countries.

For the second year, developing countries planted more hectares of biotech crops than industrialized countries, representing confidence and trust of millions of risk-adverse farmers around the world that have experienced the benefits of these crops.

Nearly 100 percent of farmers who try biotech crops continue to plant them year after year, the report noted.

Two new drought-tolerant crops
Given the importance of drought on crop productivity, exacerbated by climate change, drought tolerance is judged to be an important development.

In the United States, approximately 2,000 farmers in the drought-prone Corn Belt planted about 50,000 hectares of the first biotech drought-tolerant maize.

Also, Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, developed and approved planting of the worlds first drought-tolerant sugarcane (the first biotech sugarcane to be approved globally) and plans to commercialize it for planting in 2014.

Biotech crops are demonstrating their global value as a tool for resource poor farmers who face decreased water supplies and increased weed and pest pressures and the effects of climate change will only continue to expand the need for this technology, said Mr James.

Biotech drought-tolerant maize technology has been donated to Africa through the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project, a public/private partnership by Monsanto and BASF, funded by the Gates and Buffet foundations and implemented through the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico and Kenya-based African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF).

Planting of biotech drought-tolerant maize in Africa is expected in 2017. Drought is the biggest constraint to maize productivity in Africa on which 300 million Africans depend for survival.

Increased hectarage in developing countries
Growth in developing countries continues to expand. Latin American, Asian and African farmers collectively grew 54 percent of global biotech crop hectares (up two percent from 2012), thereby increasing the hectarage gap between industrial and developing countries from approximately 7 to 14 million hectares between 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Breaking the impasse to approve biotech crops
Developing countries are continuing to push forward with biotech research/development and commercialization, and have demonstrated the political willpower to approve new biotech crop traits, the report noted.

Approvals in 2013 include:
Bangladesh approved its first biotech crop, biotech eggplant (Brinjal), developed through a public-private partnership with an Indian company, Mahyco.

Continued developments in biotech crop technology combined with increased adoption by small and poor farmers are important factors in the future of global biotech crop adoption. Substantial developments in 2013 include:

In Africa, Burkina Faso and Sudan increased biotech cotton hectarage by an impressive 50 percent and 300 percent, respectively. Also, seven additional countries are conducting biotech crop field trials as the penultimate step to approval for commercialization. These countries include: Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda.

Biotech crops benefit food security, sustainability and the environment

Between 1996 and 2012, biotech crops have made positive contributions through: decreased production costs and increased productivity (estimated at 377 million tons) valued at US $ 117 billion; environmental benefits by eliminating the need for 497 million kg (a.i.) of pesticides; reduced CO2 emissions by 27 billion kg in 2012 alone (equivalent to removing 12 million cars from the road for one year); conserving biodiversity by saving 123 million hectares of land from being placed in agricultural production during the period 1996 to 2012; and alleviating poverty for 16.5 million small farmers and farm families, totaling more than 65 million people.

GNA