ISAAA
Briefs No. 34-2005: Executive Summary
Global
Status of Biotech/GM Crops in 2005
- 2005 marks
the tenth anniversary of the commercialization of genetically modified
(GM) or transgenic crops, now more often called biotech crops,
as referred to consistently in this Executive Summary. In 2005, the billionth
acre, equivalent to the 400 millionth hectare of a biotech crop, was
planted by one of 8.5 million farmers, in one of 21 countries. This
unprecedented
high adoption rate reflects the trust and confidence of millions of farmers
in crop biotechnology. Over the last decade, farmers have consistently
increased their plantings of biotech crops by double-digit growth rates
every single year since biotech crops were first commercialized in 1996,
with the number of biotech countries increasing from 6 to 21 in the same
period. Remarkably, the global biotech crop area increased more than
fifty-fold in the first decade of commercialization.
- The global
area of approved biotech crops in 2005 was 90 million hectares, equivalent
to 222 million acres, up from
81 million hectares
or 200 million acres in 2004. The increase was 9.0 million hectares
or 22 million acres, equivalent to an annual growth rate of 11% in
2005.
- A historic milestone was reached in 2005 when
21 countries grew biotech crops, up significantly from 17 countries
in 2004. Notably, of the four
new countries that grew biotech crops in 2005, compared with 2004,
three were EU countries, Portugal, France, and the Czech Republic whilst
the
fourth was Iran.
- Portugal and France resumed the planting of Bt
maize in 2005 after a gap of 5 and 4 years respectively, whilst the
Czech Republic
planted Bt maize for the first time in 2005, bringing the total number
of EU countries now commercializing modest areas of Bt maize to five,
viz: Spain, Germany, Portugal, France and the Czech Republic.
- Bt
rice, officially released in Iran in 2004, was grown on approximately
four thousand hectares in 2005 by several hundred farmers who initiated
commercialization of biotech rice in Iran and produced supplies of
seed for full commercialization in 2006. Iran and China are the most
advanced
countries in the commercialization of biotech rice, which is the most
important food crop in the world, grown by 250 million farmers, and
the principal food of the world’s 1.3 billion poorest people,
mostly subsistence farmers. Thus, the commercialization of biotech
rice has
enormous implications for the alleviation of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition,
not only for the rice growing and consuming countries in Asia, but
for all biotech crops and their acceptance on a global basis. China
has already
field tested biotech rice in pre-production trials and is expected
to approve biotech rice in the near-term.
- In
2005, the US, followed by Argentina, Brazil, Canada and China continued
to be the principal adopters of biotech crops globally, with
49.8 million hectares planted in the US (55% of global biotech area)
of which approximately 20% were stacked products containing two or
three genes, with the first triple gene product making its debut in
maize in
the US in 2005. The stacked products, currently deployed in the US,
Canada, Australia, Mexico, and South Africa and approved in the Philippines,
are an important and growing future trend which is more appropriate
to
quantify as “trait hectares” rather than hectares of adopted
biotech crops. Number of “trait hectares” in US in 2005 was
59.4 million hectares compared with 49.8 million hectares of biotech
crops, a 19% variance, and globally 100.1 million “trait hectares” versus
90 million hectares, a 10% variance.
- The largest increase in any country in 2005 was
in Brazil, provisionally estimated at 4.4 million hectares (9.4 million
hectares in 2005 compared
with 5 million in 2004), followed by the US (2.2 million hectares), Argentina
(0.9 million hectares) and India (0.8 million hectares). India had by
far the largest year-on-year proportional increase, with almost a three-fold
increase from 500,000 hectares in 2004 to 1.3 million hectares in 2005.
- Biotech soybean continued to be the principal
biotech crop in 2005, occupying 54.4 million hectares (60% of global
biotech area), followed
by maize (21.2 million hectares at 24%), cotton (9.8 million hectares
at 11%) and canola (4.6 million hectares at 5% of global biotech crop
area).
- During the first decade, 1996 to 2005, herbicide tolerance has consistently
been the dominant trait followed by insect resistance and stacked genes
for the two traits. In 2005, herbicide tolerance, deployed in soybean,
maize, canola and cotton occupied 71% or 63.7 million hectares of the
global biotech 90.0 million hectares, with 16.2 million hectares (18%)
planted to Bt crops and 10.1 million hectares (11%) to the stacked genes.
The latter was the fastest growing trait group between 2004 and 2005
at 49% growth, compared with 9% for herbicide tolerance and 4% for insect
resistance.
- Biotech
crops were grown by approximately 8.5 million farmers in 21 countries
in 2005, up from 8.25 million farmers in 17 countries
in 2004. Notably, 90% of the beneficiary farmers were resource-poor
farmers from developing countries, whose increased incomes from biotech
crops
contributed to the alleviation of their poverty. In 2005, approximately
7.7 million poor subsistence farmers (up from 7.5 million in 2004)
benefited from biotech crops – the majority in China with 6.4
million, 1 million in India, thousands in South Africa including
mainly women Bt
cotton farmers, more than 50,000 in the Philippines, with the balance
in the seven developing countries which grew biotech crops in 2005.
This initial modest contribution of biotech crops to the Millennium
Development
Goal of reducing poverty by 50% by 2015 is an important development
which has enormous potential in the second decade of commercialization
from
2006 to 2015.
- In 2005, the 21 countries growing biotech crops
included 11 developing countries and 10 industrial countries; they
were, in order
of hectarage, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Paraguay, India,
South Africa, Uruguay, Australia, Mexico, Romania, the Philippines, Spain,
Colombia, Iran, Honduras, Portugal, Germany, France and the Czech Republic.
|
|
|
|
Rank |
Country |
Area (million hectares) |
Biotech Crops |
1* |
USA |
49.8 |
Soybean, Maize, Cotton, Canola, Squash, Papaya |
2* |
Argentina |
17.1 |
Soybean, Maize, Cotton |
3* |
Brazil |
9.4 |
Soybean |
4* |
Canada |
5.8 |
Canola, Maize, Soybean |
5* |
China |
3.3 |
Cotton |
6* |
Paraguay |
1.8 |
Soybean |
7* |
India |
1.3 |
Cotton |
8* |
South Africa |
0.5 |
Maize, Soybean, Cotton |
9* |
Uruguay |
0.3 |
Soybean, Maize |
10* |
Australia |
0.3 |
Cotton |
11* |
Mexico |
0.1 |
Cotton, Soybean |
12* |
Romania |
0.1 |
Soybean |
13* |
Philippines |
0.1 |
Maize |
14* |
Spain |
0.1 |
Maize |
15 |
Colombia |
<0.1 |
Cotton |
16 |
Iran |
<0.1 |
Rice |
17 |
Honduras |
<0.1 |
Maize |
18 |
Portugal |
<0.1 |
Maize |
19 |
Germany |
<0.1 |
Maize |
20 |
France |
<0.1 |
Maize |
21 |
Czech Republic |
<0.1 |
Maize |
Source:
Clive James, 2005 |
*
14 biotech mega countries growing 50,000 hectares, or more, of
biotech crops |
Note:
All data re hectares are rounded off to the nearest 100,000 hectares
and in some cases this leads to insignificant variances. More detailed
descriptions of the status of biotech crops in each country are
given in the full version of Brief 34. |
- During the period 1996 to 2005, the proportion of the global area of biotech
crops grown by developing countries has increased every year. More than
one-third (38%, up from 34% in 2004) of the global biotech crop area in
2005, equivalent to 33.9 million hectares, was grown in developing countries
where growth between 2004 and 2005 was substantially higher (6.3 million
hectares or 23% growth) than industrial countries (2.7 million hectares
or 5% growth). The increasing collective impact of the five principal developing
countries (China, India, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa) representing
all three continents of the South, Asia, Latin America and Africa, is an
important continuing trend with implications for the future adoption and
acceptance of biotech crops worldwide.
- In
the first decade, the accumulated global biotech
crop area was 475 million hectares or 1.17 billion acres, equivalent
to almost
half of the total land area of the USA or
China, or 20 times the total land area of the UK. The continuing
rapid adoption of biotech
crops
reflects the substantial and consistent improvements
in productivity, the environment,
economics, and social benefits realized by
both large and small farmers, consumers and society in both industrial
and developing countries.
The most recent survey of the global impact
of biotech crops for the nine-year
period 1996 to 2004, estimates that the global
net economic benefits to crop biotech farmers in 2004 was $6.5 billion,
and $27 billion
($15 billion for developing countries and $12
billion for industrial countries)
for the accumulated benefits during the period
1996 to 2004; these estimates include the benefits associated with
the double cropping
of biotech soybean
in Argentina. The accumulative reduction
in pesticides for the period 1996 to 2004 was estimated at 172,500
MT of active ingredient, which
is equivalent to a 14% reduction in the associated
environmental impact of pesticide use on these crops, as measured
by the Environmental
Impact
Quotient (EIQ) – a composite measure
based on the various factors contributing
to the net environmental impact of an individual
active
ingredient.
- There
is cause for cautious optimism that the stellar growth in biotech crops,
witnessed in the first decade of commercialization,
1996 to 2005, will continue and probably be surpassed in the second
decade 2006-2015. The number of countries adopting the four current
major biotech
crops is expected to grow, and their global hectarage and number of
farmers planting biotech crops are expected to increase as the first
generation
of biotech crops is more widely adopted and the second generation of
new applications for both input and output traits becomes available.
Beyond the traditional agricultural products of food, feed and fiber,
entirely novel products to agriculture will emerge including the production
of pharmaceutical products, oral vaccines, specialty and fine chemicals
and the use of renewable crop resources to replace non-renewable, polluting,
and increasingly expensive fossil fuels. In the near term, in the established
industrial country markets growth in stacked traits, measured in “trait
hectares” of biotech crops, will continue to grow with the introduction
of new input and output traits stacked to create value and to meet
the multiple needs of both consumers and producers who seek more nutritional
and healthier food and feed at the most affordable prices. Adherence
to good farming practices with biotech crops will remain critical as
it has been during the first decade and continued responsible stewardship
must be practiced, particularly by the countries of the South, which
will be the major deployers of biotech crops in the coming decade.
(1 hectare = 2.47 acres)
|
Menu:
|