Contact | Purchase Publications | Site Map

Pocket K No. 16: Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops in 2010

In 2010, the global area of biotech crops continued to soar for the fifteenth consecutive year at a sustained growth rate of 10% or 14 million hectares (35 million acres), reaching 148 million hectares or 365 million acres (Figure 1).  Biotech crops have set a precedent in that the biotech area has grown impressively every single year for the past 15 years, with almost a remarkable ~87-fold increase since the commercialization began in 1996.

 

Thus, in 2010, a total of 15.4 million farmers planted biotech crops in 29 countries. Of these, over 90% or 14.4 million (up from 14 million in 2009) were small and resource-poor farmers from developing countries. Germany resumed cultivation of biotech crops in 2010 while Pakistan, Myanmar, and Sweden were added to the list. The highest increase in any country, in absolute hectarage growth was in Brazil with 4.0 million hectares and the highest proportional increase was in Australia with a 184% increase to reach 653,000 hectares.

In summary, during the period 1996 to 2010, biotech crops have been successfully grown in accumulated hectarage of more than 1 billion hectares, which is equivalent to the vast area of USA or China.

 

Distribution of Biotech Crops in Industrial and Developing Countries

Figure 2 shows the relative area of biotech crops in industrial and developing countries from 1996-2010. In 2010, almost half of the global biotech crop area of 148 million hectares, equivalent to 71.7 million hectares, was grown in 19 developing countries. It is noteworthy  that in 2010, all six countries that exhibited proportional growth in biotech area of 10% or more were developing countries; they were in descending order of percentage growth: Burkina Faso (126% increase), Brazil (19%), Paraguay (18%), India (12%), Bolivia (12%), and Philippines (10%). As in the past, in 2010, percent growth in biotech crop area continued to be significantly stronger in the developing countries (17% and 10.2 million hectares) than industrial countries (5% and 3.8 million hectares). Thus, year-on-year growth measured either in absolute hectares or by percent, was higher in developing countries than industrial countries in 2010.

 

Distribution of Biotech Crops, by Country

Biotech crops were grown commercially in all six continents of the world. Pakistan, Myanmar, and Sweden were added to the 2010 global biotech crop list, with Germany resuming planting.

Of the 29 countries planting biotech crops in 2010, 17 countries planted 50,000 hectares or more to biotech crops (Table 2). These mega-countries included the USA, Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada, China, Paraguay, Pakistan, South Africa, Uruguay, Bolivia, Australia, Philippines, Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Spain, and Mexico reflecting a more balanced and broader group of countries adopting biotech crops.

It is noteworthy that in 2010, Australia had the highest growth rate (184%) between 2009 and 2010 and Brazil had the highest absolute growth of biotech crops (4 million hectares) in any country in 2010.

 

 

Dominant Biotech Crop in 2010

Herbicide tolerant soybean continued to be the dominant biotech crop in 2010, occupying 73.3 million hectares or 50% of global biotech area (Table 3). It was grown commercially in the USA, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Canada, Uruguay, Bolivia, South Africa, Mexico, Chile, and Costa Rica. The second most dominant crop was biotech maize with stacked traits, which occupied 28.8 million hectares or 19% of the global biotech area. It was grown commercially in the USA, Canada, South Africa, the Philippines, Brazil, Honduras, Argentina, and Chile.

Biotech cotton was the third most dominant crop grown in 2010. Bt cotton was planted in more than 16.1 million hectares in India, China, Pakistan, Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Brazil, USA, Argentina, Australia, Mexico, and Costa Rica. This is equivalent to 11% of the global biotech area.

 

Global Adoption of Biotech Soybean, Maize, Cotton, and Canola

Another way to provide a global perspective of the status of biotech crops is to characterize the global adoption rates as a percentage of the respective global areas of the four principal crops – soybean, cotton, maize and canola, in which biotechnology is utilized.

In 2010, 81% of the 90 million hectares of the soybean planted globally were biotech (Figure 3). Eighty one percent of the 90 million hectares of soybean planted globally were biotech, an increase over 2009, when 77% of 90 million hectares of soybean were biotech. Biotech cotton was planted to 21.0 million hectares (64 %) in 2010, an increase from the 16.1 million hectares planted in 2009. Of the 158 million hectares of maize planted in 2010, 29% or 46.0 million were biotech maize. Finally, herbicide-tolerant biotech canola was planted in 7.0 million hectares or 23% of the 31 million hectares of canola grown globally in 2010. If the global areas (conventional and biotech) of these four crops are aggregated, the total area is 312 million hectares, of which 47% were biotech, up from 43% in 2009. Two-thirds of these 312 million hectares are in developing countries farmed mainly by small, resource-poor farmers.

 

The Global Value of Biotech Crops

In 2010, the global market value of biotech crops was US$11.2 billion representing 22% of the US$51.8 billion global crop protection market in 2010, and 33% of the ~US$34 billion 2010 global commercial seed market. Of the US$11.2 billion biotech crop market, US$8.9 billion (80%) was in the industrial countries and US$2.3 billion (20%) was in the developing countries. The market value of the global biotech crop market is based on the sale price of biotech seeds plus any technology fees that apply. The accumulated global value of biotech crops since 1996 is estimated at US$73.5 billion. The global value of the biotech crop market is projected at ~US$12 billion for 2011.

Future Prospects

The future of biotech crops looks encouraging. Commercialization of drought tolerant maize is expected in 2012; Golden Rice in 2013; and Bt rice before the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of 2015, which will potentially benefit 1 billion poor people, in Asia alone. Biotech crops could possibly contribute in the achievement of 2015 MDG, particularly in decreasing poverty by half, through maximizing crop productivity in a proposed global initiative to honor the legacy of ISAAA’s founding patron, and Nobel Peace Laureate, Norman Borlaug, who saved 1 billion people from hunger.

Reference

James, C. 2010. Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2010. ISAAA Brief No. 42. ISAAA: Ithaca, NY

*April 2011

Next Pocket K: Genetic Engineering and GM Crops