Warsaw, Poland
April 26, 2005
Early adoption of GM technology in
arable crops would bring clear farm level and environmental
benefits for Poland according to a new report published today.
The report
formally published in the journal Biotechnologica (1), shows
that the application and use of the GM agronomic traits of
herbicide tolerance to oilseed rape, sugar beet and maize, and
insect (Bt) resistance in maize offers Poland both economic and
environmental benefits.
According to
Graham Brookes, one of the authors of the report (2), ‘Polish
arable farmers have the potential to gain more from early
adoption of GM technology than their EU 15 counterparts because
they are starting from a lower average level of technical
efficiency and therefore they will derive greater productivity
gains. The GM technology offers scope for accelerating the
process of ‘productivity catch up’ post EU accession, enabling
Polish producers to compete more effectively, and earlier than
they might otherwise have been capable of, if they did not use
GM technology’.
Key
findings of the research forecast that adoption of GM technology
would annually result in:
- Between
a +10% and +19% increase in output for crops like oilseed
rape (of value for export and as a raw material for
bio-fuels) and sugar beet (of value for export without
subsidy or for use in non food sectors like bio-ethanol);
- An
increase in annual added value for Polish production of the
three crops of between +€55 million and +€116 million;
- An
increase in farm (gross margin) income of between €67
million and €123 million.
- The
volume of herbicides applied would fall by between a third
and a half and result in a net reduction in the toxicity
level of products applied. Using a measure of mammalian
toxicity, the total level of doses applied would fall by
between 38% and 67%;
- Greater
opportunity to move to low tillage cultivation methods which
reduce soil disruption, erosion and the release of carbon
dioxide from ploughing and hence make a positive
contribution to reducing the impact of global warming.
Full paper in PDF format:
http://www.pgeconomics.co.uk/pdf/Possible_farm_level_impact_GM_crops_Poland.pdf
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