April 9, 2003

SEARCA Biotech News / Crop Biotech Update (via Agnet)

In an effort to improve the livelihoods of subsistence farmers, the Philippines recently became the first country in Asia to grant commercial approval for growing a biotech food crop ­ Bt corn.

"The objective is to see how this (growing biotech crops) is going to help the poor of our country," Philippine Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. told Reuters news service in December 2002.

Independent tests of Bt corn, which is enhanced with a naturally occurring soil microbe that protects plants from insect pests such as the Asiatic corn borer, showed that the biotech corn:

• Improved yields 41 percent during the Philippines wet season and 27 percent during its dry season.
• Improved farmer profitability 25 percent, on average, over non-Bt varieties.
• Boosted farmer incomes enough so they could provide a minimum of 2,000 kilocalories per capita per day for their families.

Income derived only from non-Bt corn was not adequate to meet this minimum requirement, according to the tests conducted by the STRIVE Foundation in the Philippines.

Although several Asian countries commercially grow biotech cotton and have approved the importation of biotech crops such as soybeans and corn, the Philippines is the first to allow biotech corn to be grown locally.

About 100 hectares (247 acres) of the Bt corn was commercially planted in late December 2002 in three Filipino provinces: Pangasinan, Ilocos and Isabela. The first harvest is expected in April 2003.

"We are happy with the healthy growth of Bt corn and look forward to higher yields," Hector Madriaga, a Bt corn farmer from Luna, Isabela, told Crop Biotech Update in March 2003.

The government of the Philippines is hoping Bt corn will help provide an economic shot in the arm for resource-poor Filipino farmers, whose corn yields are just a fraction of those in the United States and
other areas.

About one-third of Filipino farmers rely on corn production as their major source of income, according to Randy Hautea, global coordinator and director of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-
biotech Applications' Southeast Asia Center.

But each year, the Asiatic corn borer causes yield losses of between 10 and 30 percent, explained Hautea. Boosting yields ­ and improving the incomes of subsistence farmers ­ are why more and more people in the developing world are embracing biotech crops, including some church leaders.

"GMOs can significantly improve crop yields, offer an environmental friendly alternative to artificial pesticides, improve the nutritional properties of food, remove allergies and toxins contained in conventional foods and improve the quality of food," said Roman Catholic Bishop Jesus Varela of Sorsogon, a member of the Bishops' Conference of the Philippines.

Bishop Varela, speaking at the Regional Forum on Biotechnology and Genetically Modified Organisms in February 2003 in the Philippines, is a believer in what he calls "Christian environmentalism" ­ a middle ground between "anti-global environmentalists" who view all technology as a form of oppression and "scientistic utilitarians" who see every new technology as a sign of unfailing progress.

This view of plant biotechnology is consistent with the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life statement on biotech crops, which said, "We are increasingly encouraged that the advantages of genetically engineered plants and animals are greater than the risks. The risks should be carefully followed through with openness, analysis and control but with no sense of alarm. We give it a prudent yes. We cannot agree with the position of some groups that they say it is against the will of God to meddle with the genetic makeup of plants and animals."

For secular governments in many parts of the world, ensuring food security and narrowing the income gap between a country's rural poor and their more prosperous urban compatriots is a major challenge ­ one that biotechnology and other technology developments can help address. The Philippine government is now considering providing credit assistance to Filipino farmers who plant Bt corn to boost farm productivity and to reduce corn imports, which amounted to 171,770 metric tons in 2001.
 
The Philippines is the fourth largest corn producer in Asia, growing about 2.5 million hectares (6.17 million acres) of corn each year. "Safe and responsible use of biotechnology is an option that the
government supports towards our goal in agricultural modernization," Tetchi Capellan, undersecretary of the Filipino Million Jobs Program, told Crop Biotech Update in March of 2003.

Other countries are taking notice.

Thirteen farmers from Thailand recently visited the Philippines to see for themselves how Bt corn is helping to grow more and better food. "Bt corn will further improve corn production efficiency in
Thailand," Thai farmer Manop Khamsitti told Crop Biotech Update. But not until the Thai government lifts a moratorium on field trials of biotech crops.