Global Status of Commercialized Biotech Crops

In this article we will discuss about the global status and commercialised biotech crops.

This summarisation is based on James (2009) where Clive James has dedicated the publication to the late Nobel Peace Laureate Norman Borlaug, first founding patron of ISAAA (The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications).

The global status of commercialized biotech/GM/transgenic crops can be plainly stated by the fact that “a record 14 million farmers, in 25 countries, planted 134 million hectares (330 million acres) in 2009, a significant increase of 7% or 9 million hectares (22 million acres) over 2008”. 2009 GM crop acreage represents 80 fold increase from 1996 when the first GM crop was commercialized in USA. The global area of biotech crops in summarised in Table 9.10.

15 biotech mega-countries growing 50,000 hectares or more of biotech crops

The global area of biotech crops for the first 14 years (1996 to 2009) is given in Table 9.11.

Crop-wise area of biotech crops on global basis for 2008 and 2009 is given in Table 9.12.

Trait-wise global area of biotech crops in 2008 and 2009 is given in Table 9.13.

Dominant biotech crop and trait combinations are shown in Table 9.14 at global level for the year 2008 and 2009.

Another way to provide a global perspective of the status of biotech crops is to characterise the global adoption rates as a percentage of the respective global areas of the four principal crops-soybean, cotton, maize and canola in which the biotechnology has been utilized significantly (Table 9.15).

Table 9.15 clearly shows that in 2009 more than three quarters (77%) of the 90 million ha of soybean planted globally was biotech. In cotton, half of the total average (49%) was accounted for by biotech cotton. Impact of biotech crops on global level is quite significant.

Status of field trials of biotech crops in India in 2009 is given in Table 9.16.

Legend:

AP: Agronomic Performance, BR: Bacterial Resistance, DR: Disease Resistance, DST: Drought and Salinity Tolerance, FR: Fungal Resistance, IR: Insect Resistance, NE: Nutritional Enhancement.

A few facts taken from James (2009) are as follows:

1. A record 14 million farmers, in 25 countries, planted 134 million hectares (330 million acres) under biotech crops in 2009, a significant increase of 7% or 9 million hectares (22 million acres) over 2008.

2. Of 14 million beneficiary farmers, 90% or 13 million were small resource-poor farmers.

3. The first biotech crop to be commercialized has been tomato in 1996 in USA.

4. There are presently 11 crops (soya bean, maize, cotton, canola, squash, papaya, alfalfa, sugar-beet, tomato, sweet pepper, poplar) where biotech/GM crops have been commercialized globally.

5. On 27 November 2009, China issued biosafety certificates for its nationally developed proprietary Bt rice and phytase maize clearing the way for crop registration which will take 2-3 years before commercialisation. The significance of this decision is that rice, the most important food crop in the world, has the potential to directly benefit 110 million rice households in China alone, and 250 million rice households in Asia equivalent to 1 billion potential beneficiaries assuming an average of four per family.

6. Four principal crops having substantial acreage under biotech versions are soya bean (69.2 million ha), maize (41.7 million ha), cotton (16.1 million ha) and canola (6.4 million ha).

7. Top six countries accounting for substantial acreage under biotech cultivars are USA (64.0 million ha), Brazil (21.4 million ha), Argentina (21.3 million ha), India (8.4 million ha), Canada (8.2 million ha), and China (3.7 million ha).

8. The six principal countries that have gained the most economically from biotech crops during the first 13 years of commercialisation of biotech crops (1996-2008) in descending order of magnitude are USA (USD 23.4 billion), Argentina (USD 9.2 billion), China (USD 7.6 billion), India (USD 5.1 billion), Brazil (USD 2.8 billion), Canada (USD 2.1 billion) and others (USD 1.7 billion) for a total of approximately USD 51.9 billion.

9. In 2008 alone, economic benefits globally were USD 9.2 billion of which USA accounted for USD 4.1 billion followed by India (USD 1.8 billion).

10. The USA is one of the six “founder biotech crop countries” having commercialized biotech maize, soya bean, cotton and potato in 1996, the first year of global commercialisation of biotech crops. The USA continued to be the lead biotech country in 2009.

11. Biotech traits include herbicide and /or insect resistance, either alone or stacked together.

12. India commercialized Bt cotton for the first time in 2002. In 2009, 5.6 million small and marginal resource poor farmers in India planted 8.4 million ha of Bt cotton equivalent to 87% of 9.6 million ha of cotton acreage.

13. For India, 2009 was the first year for an indigenous public sector bred cotton variety (Bikaneri Nerma) and a hybrid (NHH 44) commercialized.

14. On 14 October 2009, a landmark decision was made by India’s Genetic Engineering Approval Committee now called as Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) to recommend the commercial release of Bt brinjal (eggplant/aubergine) which is now pending subject to final clearance by Ministry of Environment and Forests-Govt. of India. Bt brinjal research has been in progress since 2000.

15. India’s GEAC approved event-based approval mechanism for cotton hybrids in its meeting held on 2 April 2008.

16. In 2009, India had 522 Bt. cotton hybrids containing one of six events and participation of 35 seed companies in seed production and marketing.