ISAAA Briefs 32 Executive Summary

ISAAA Briefs No. 32-2004: Executive Summary

Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2004

Biotech Crop Area by Country, Crop and Trait

Countries that grow 50,000 hectares, or more, of biotech crops are classified as biotech mega-countries. In 2004, there were 14 mega-countries, compared with 10 in 2003, with Paraguay, Spain, Mexico and the Philippines joining the mega- country group for the first time in 2004. This 40% increase in the number of mega-countries reflects a more balanced and stabilized participation of a broader group of countries adopting biotech crops. The 14 mega-countries, in descending order of hectarage of biotech crops, were: USA with 47.6 million hectares (59% of global total), followed by Argentina with 16.2 million hectares (20%), Canada 5.4 million hectares (6%), Brazil 5.0 million hectares (6%), China 3.7 million hectares (5%), Paraguay with 1.2 million hectares (2%) reporting biotech crops for the first time in 2004, India 0.5 million hectares ((1%), South Africa 0.5 million hectares (1%), Uruguay 0.3 million hectares (<1%), Australia 0.2 million hectares (<1%), Romania 0.1 million hectares (<1%), Mexico 0.1 million hectares (<1%), Spain 0.1 million hectares (<1%), and the Philippines 0.1 million hectares (<1%).

Based on annual percentage growth in area, of the eight leading biotech crop countries, India had the highest percentage year-on-year growth in 2004 with an increase of 400% in Bt cotton area over 2003, followed by Uruguay (200%), Australia (100%), Brazil (66%), China (32%), South Africa (25%), Canada (23%) Argentina (17%) and the USA at 11%. In 2004, India increased its area of approved Bt cotton, introduced only two years ago, from approximately 100,000 hectares in 2003 to 500,000 hectares in 2004 when approximately 300,000 small farmers benefited from Bt cotton. Whereas growth in Uruguay in 2004 was accentuated by a conservative 2003 adoption rate, biotech soybean now occupies >99 % of the total soybean area in Uruguay, plus a significant increase in biotech maize taking the total biotech crop area above 300,000 hectares. After suffering severe drought for the last two years, Australia increased its total cotton plantings to about 310,000 hectares of which 80%, equivalent to 250,000 hectares, were planted with biotech cotton in 2004. Brazil increased its biotech soybean area by two-thirds from 3 million hectares in 2003 to a projected conservative 5 million hectares in 2004, with another significant increase likely in 2005. China increased its Bt cotton area for the seventh consecutive year; an increase of one-third from 2.8 million hectares in 2003 to 3.7 million hectares in 2004, equivalent to 66% of the total cotton area of 5.6 million hectares in 2004, the largest national cotton hectarage planted in China since the introduction of Bt cotton in 1997. South Africa reported a 25% increase in its combined area of biotech maize, soybean and cotton to 0.5 million hectares in 2004; growth continued in both white maize used for food, and yellow maize used for feed, as well as strong growth in biotech soybean, up from 35% adoption in 2003 to 50% in 2004, whilst Bt cotton has stabilized at about 85% adoption. Canada increased its combined area of biotech canola, maize and soybean by 23% with a total of 5.4 million hectares with 77% of its canola hectarage planted to biotech varieties. The adoption of herbicide tolerant soybeans in Argentina, which was close to 100% in 2003, continued to climb in 2004 as total plantings of soybean increased, which along with biotech maize and cotton reached an all time high of 16.2 million hectares of biotech crops. In the USA, there was an estimated net gain of 11% of biotech crops in 2004, as a result of significant increases in the area of biotech maize, followed by biotech soybean, with modest growth in biotech cotton which started to peak in the USA in 2004 as adoption approached 80%. In 2004, for the first time, Paraguay reported 1.2 million hectares of biotech soybean, equivalent to 60% of its national soybean hectarage of 2 million hectares. Spain, the only EU country to grow a significant hectarage of a commercial biotech crop, increased its Bt maize area by over 80% from 32,000 hectares in 2003 to 58,000 hectares in 2004, equivalent to 12% of the national maize crop. In Eastern Europe, Romania, which is a biotech mega-country, growing more than 50,000 hectares of biotech soybean, also reported significant growth. Bulgaria and Indonesia did not report biotech maize and cotton, respectively in 2004 due to expiry of permits. Two countries, Mexico and the Philippines which attained the status of biotech mega-countries for the first time in 2004 reported 75,000 hectares and 52,000 hectares of biotech crops, respectively for 2004. Other countries that have only recently introduced biotech crops, such as Colombia and Honduras reported modest growth, whilst Germany planted a token hectarage of Bt maize.

Globally, in 2004, growth continued in all four commercialized biotech crops. Biotech soybean occupied 48.4 million hectares (60% of global biotech area), up from 41.4 million hectares in 2003. Biotech maize was planted on 19.3 million hectares (23% of global biotech crop area), up substantially from 15.5 million hectares in 2003, co-sharing the highest growth rate with cotton at 25% - this follows a 25% growth rate in biotech maize in 2003 and 27% in 2002. Biotech maize is projected to have the highest percentage growth rate for the near term as maize demand increases and as more beneficial traits become available and approved. Biotech cotton was grown on 9.0 million hectares (11% of global biotech area) compared with 7.2 million hectares in 2003. Bt cotton is expected to continue to grow in 2005 and beyond, as India and China continue to increase their hectarage and new countries introduce the crop for the first time. Biotech canola occupied 4.3 million hectares (6% of global biotech area), up from 3.6 million hectares in 2003. In 2004, 5% of the 1.5 billion hectares of all global cultivable crop land was occupied by biotech crops.

CHINA Biotech Cotton

Population: 1.3000m (1.3 billion) % employed in agriculture: 50% Agriculture as % of GDP: 15% Area under biotech crops: 3.7 million hectares
Crop	National Hectarage '000 ha	Biotech Hectarage '000 ha	Biotech % of Total Area Planted
Cotton	5,600	3,700	66

During the nine-year period 1996 to 2004, herbicide tolerance has consistently been the dominant trait followed by insect resistance. In 2004, herbicide tolerance, deployed in soybean, maize, canola and cotton occupied 72% or 58.6 million hectares of the global biotech 81.0 million hectares, with 15.6 million hectares (19%) planted to Bt crops. Stacked genes for herbicide tolerance and insect resistance, deployed in both cotton and maize continued to grow, occupying 9% or 6.8 million hectares, up from 5.8 million hectares in 2004. The two dominant biotech crop/trait combinations in 2004 were: herbicide tolerant soybean occupying 48.4 million hectares or 60% of the global biotech area and grown in nine countries; and Bt maize, occupying 11.2 million hectares, equivalent to 14% of global biotech area and also grown in nine countries. Whereas the largest increase in Bt maize was in the USA, growth was witnessed in all other eight countries growing Bt maize. Notably, South Africa grew 155,000 hectares of Bt white maize for food in 2004, a substantial 25 fold increase from when it was first introduced in 2001. Bt/herbicide tolerant maize and cotton both increased substantially, reflecting a continuing trend for stacked genes to occupy an increasing area planted to biotech crops on a global basis.

INDIA Biotech Cotton
Pablo Bartholomew
Population: 1,000m (1 billion) % employed in agriculture: 67% Agriculture as % of GDP: 23% Area under biotech crops: 500,000 hectares
Crop	National Hectarage '000 ha	Biotech Hectarage '000 ha	Biotech % of Total Area Planted
Cotton	9,000	500	6

Another way to provide a global perspective of the adoption of biotech crops is to express the global adoption rates for the four principal biotech crops as a percentage of their respective global areas. In 2004, 56% of the 86 million hectares of soybean planted globally were biotech - up from 55% in 2003. Twenty-eight percent of the 32 million hectares of cotton were biotech crops, up from 21% last year. The area planted to biotech canola in 2004 was 19% of 23 million hectares, up from 16% in 2003. Finally, of the 140 million hectares of maize grown globally, 14% was biotech in 2004 equivalent to 19.3 million hectares, up from 11% or 15.5 million hectares in 2003. If the global areas (conventional and biotech) of these four principal biotech crops are aggregated, the total area is 284 million hectares of which 29% was biotech in 2004, up from 25% in 2003. Thus, close to 30% of the aggregate area of the four crops, totaling over one quarter billion hectares is now biotech. The biggest increase in 2004 was a 7.0 million hectares increase in biotech soybean equivalent to a 17% year-on-year growth, followed by a 3.8 million hectare increase in biotech maize equivalent to a substantial 25% year-on-year growth, which follows a 25% year-on-year growth in 2003.

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