ISAAA Briefs 32 Executive Summary

ISAAA Briefs No. 32-2004: Executive Summary

Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2004

The Potential Impact of the Lead Developing Countries on Global Acceptance of Biotech Crops

Of the 11 developing countries that have already approved and adopted biotech crops to meet their own food, feed and fiber needs and/or to optimize exports, there are five lead countries that will exert leadership and have a significant impact on future adoption and acceptance of biotech crops globally, because of their significant role in biotech crops and generally in world affairs. These five countries are China and India in Asia, Brazil and Argentina in Latin America, and South Africa on the continent of Africa. Collectively, they planted approximately 26 million hectares of biotech crops in 2004, (equivalent to approximately one-third of global biotech hectarage) to meet the needs of their combined populations of 2.6 billion (approximately 40% of global population) which generated an aggregated agricultural GDP of almost $370 billion and provided a livelihood for 1.3 billion of their people. Of the five principal biotech developing countries, China is likely to be the most influential, and what China is to Asia, Brazil is to Latin America, and South Africa is to the continent of Africa. There is little doubt that China intends to be one of the world leaders in biotechnology since Chinese policymakers have concluded that there are unacceptable risks of being dependent on imported technologies for food, feed and fiber security.

SOUTH AFRICA Biotech Maize

Population:
44m

% employed in agriculture:
11%

Agriculture as % of GDP:
11%

Area under biotech crops:
500,000 hectares

Crop

National Hectarage
'000 ha

Biotech Hectarage
'000 ha

Biotech % of Total Area Planted

Maize

2,600

400

Soybean

140

Cotton

35-40

The sharing of the significant body of knowledge and experience that has been accumulated on biotech crops in developing countries, since their commercialization in 1996, is an essential ingredient for a transparent, and knowledge-based discussion by an informed global society about the potential humanitarian and material benefits that biotech crops offer developing countries. The five lead biotech crop countries from the South, China, India, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa, offer a unique experience from developing countries in all three continents of the South – Asia, Latin America and Africa. The collective experience and voice of these five key countries represent a coalition of influential opinion from the South re biotech crops that will also influence acceptance of biotech crops globally. In the near term, the one single event that is likely to have the greatest impact is the approval and adoption of Bt rice in China, which is considered to be likely in the near term, probably in 2005. The adoption of biotech rice by China, not only involves the most important food crop in the world but the culture of Asia. It will provide the stimulus that will have a major impact on the acceptance of biotech rice in Asia and, more generally, on the acceptance of biotech food, feed and fiber crops worldwide. Adoption of biotech rice will contribute to a global momentum that will herald a new chapter in the debate on the acceptance of biotech crops which will be increasingly influenced by countries in the South, where the new technology can contribute the biggest benefits and where the humanitarian needs are greatest – a contribution to the alleviation of malnutrition, hunger and poverty. Global society has pledged to reduce poverty by half by 2015, and if it is to maintain credibility, it must practice what it preaches and deliver what it promises. Reducing poverty by half by 2015 is an imperative moral obligation and is one of the most formidable challenges facing the world today, to which biotech crops can make a vital contribution. It is appropriate that it is the countries of the South, led by China, India, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa, which are exerting increasing leadership in the adoption of biotech crops and have the courage to address issues that will determine their own survival and destiny, at a time when some segments of global society are still engaged in an ongoing debate on biotech crops that has resulted in paralysis through over-analysis.

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