Farmers continued rapid adoption of biotech crops around the globe in 2006 driving multiple adoption milestones for the technology-enhanced crops that produce greater yields of food, feed, fiber and fuel, according to an annual report released today by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).

At the beginning of the second decade of biotech crop adoption, biotech crop area jumped 12 million hectares or 13 percent to reach 102 million hectares, breaking the 100 million- hectare mark for the first time and achieving the second highest growth in the past 5 years. Growth for the period 1996 to 2006 is equivalent to an unprecedented 60-fold increase, the highest adoption rate of any crop technology. Additionally, the number of farmers planting biotech crops surged past 10 million for the first time, to 10.3 million, from 8.5 million farmers in 2005.

Clive James, chairman and founder of ISAAA and author of the report, expects these adoption levels to continue accelerating throughout the second decade of commercialization. By 2015, ISAAA predicts more than 20 million farmers will plant 200 million hectares of biotech crops in about 40 countries.

“More than 90 percent or 9.3 million farmers growing biotech crops last year were small, resource-poor farmers from the developing world, allowing biotechnology to make a modest contribution to the alleviation of their poverty,” James said. “Millions of small, resource-poor farmers will turn to the potential biotech crops offer in the next decade.”

In fact, the report indicated that the growth of biotech crop adoption was substantially higher in the developing world at 21 percent versus the industrialized nations where adoption grew 9 percent. Developing countries now account for 40 percent of the global biotech crop area.

Ravinder Brar, a widowed mother of two and biotech cotton farmer in India says developing world farmers need the increased production and income biotech crops offer, as well as the environmental and time-saving benefits.
“My biotech crops have reduced spraying costs and resulted in higher yields. I expect biotech crops to increase my profits, providing a better life for my family,” she said.

C.D. Mayee, ISAAA trustee and chairman of India’s Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board, confirms Brar’s comments. “Bt cotton has contributed significantly to the yield increase in cotton in India from 308 kg lint per hectare in 2001-2002 to 450 kg lint per hectare in 2005-2006. In turn the increase in yield from Bt cotton has been a major contributor to increased cotton exports from India which soared from 0.9 million bales in 2005 to 4.7 million bales in 2006, the highest ever recorded for India.”

These benefits are driving widespread growth of biotech crops globally. In 2006, there were key growth centers on each of the major continents providing a broad and stable foundation for biotech crops in the second decade. Furthermore, while 22 countries planted biotech crops last year, the report indicated an additional 29 countries have approved biotech crops for import for food/feed use and release into the environment.

“More than half of the global population of 6.5 billion people now live in countries where biotech crops are grown, allowing 3.6 billion people to benefit from the economic, societal and environmental advantages generated through biotech crops,” James said. “With 51 countries in total gaining experience with biotech crops, acceptance will continue to grow.”

Key Growth Centers

The Americas
The United States continues to drive growth in North America and globally, accounting for the greatest absolute acreage increase in 2006 with the addition of 4.8 million hectares. Brazil leads growth in South America with an increase of 22 percent to total 11.5 million hectares of soybeans and biotech cotton, the latter commercialized for the first time in 2006.

Asia
India is emerging as a key leader in Asia. The country tallied the most substantial percentage increase at 192 percent or 2.5 million hectares to total 3.8 million hectares, jumping two spots in the world ranking to become the fifth largest producer of biotech crops in the world, surpassing China for the first time.

Africa
South Africa made significant strides in the past year to lead the African continent forward by almost tripling its biotech crop area. Notably, the gain came from Bt white maize, primarily used for food, and Bt yellow maize used for livestock feed.

Europe
Growth also continues in the countries of the EU where Slovakia became the sixth EU country out of 25 to plant biotech crops. Spain continues to lead the continent, planting 60,000 hectares in 2006; however, the other five EU countries reported a five-fold increase in plantings from 1,500 hectares in 2005 to about 8,500 hectares in 2006.

Future Growth Drivers

ISAAA predicts this growth to continue in the second decade of commercialization with significant opportunities in multiple geographic areas.

“The commercialization of biotech rice alone could drive adoption of biotech crops well beyond the conservative estimate of 20 million farmers up to 80 million farmers. This is based on an adoption rate of one third by the world’s 250 million rice farmers, most of whom are small resource-poor farmers, 90 percent of whom are in Asia. Biotech rice with insect resistance to enhance yields could make a substantial impact on the UN Millennium Development goal of reducing poverty by half by 2015, and golden rice with enhanced vitamin A could improve nutrition significantly,” James said.

Biofuels will also be a major growth driver. Biotech crops will be used to increase the efficiency and meet added demand for alternative energy, as well as exploring biotech options to bring cellulose-based ethanol from energy crops to market. Biotech crops can play a key role in meeting increased demands for food and fuel. Further, biotech crops with drought-tolerant traits are expected to reach the market within the next five years, unlocking substantial production opportunities in dryer climates.

While the Americas led the first decade of biotech crop adoption, the second decade will likely feature significant growth in Asia and its developing countries of India, China and the Philippines, as well as new biotech countries like Pakistan and Vietnam. In Africa, the experiences of South Africa will likely lead other countries to begin planting biotech crops, including Egypt, Burkina Faso and Kenya where promising field trials have already been conducted. Finally, the consistent global increase in adoption of biotech crops will likely prove to be a trend that merits increased recognition by the EU. France, as a leading member state, is a key example, increasing its area of Bt maize multi-fold to 5,000 hectares in 2006.

“We are at an exciting time in biotechnology’s adoption,” James said. “As we look into the future at the second decade of commercialization, many factors are poised to drive substantial growth of biotech crops well beyond the early adopters. It is in this decade that biotech crops can make a significant contribution and impact on the world’s 1.3 billion poor.”

The report is co-sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, a U.S.-based philanthropic organization associated with the Green Revolution that saved up to a billion lives in the 1960s, and Ibercaja, one of the largest Spanish banks headquartered in the maize growing region of Spain.

Executive summary:
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BIOTECH CROP AREA BY COUNTRY

• United States: 54.6 million hectares. The United States continued to grow more biotech crops than any other country with a gain of 4.8 million hectares in 2006, compared to 2.2 million in 2005. This was the largest absolute area growth of all countries in 2006 and was greater than recent years. The increase was a result of significant area gains in biotech maize, which increased about 15 percent.

• Argentina: 18 million hectares. Argentina accounted for 18 percent of the global biotech crop area, increasing hectarage 5 percent or 0.9 million hectares. Biotech soybean, maize and cotton plantings all experienced increases.

• Brazil: 11.5 million hectares. Brazil experienced 22 percent growth in biotech crop area, mainly in herbicide-tolerant soybean area, while planting 120,000 hectares of insect-resistant biotech cotton commercially for the first time.

• Canada: 6.1 million hectares. One of the original “founders” of biotech crops, Canada’s biotech crop area grew 5 percent in 2006, due to increases in canola, maize and soybean plantings.

• India: 3.8 million hectares. India posted the highest percentage growth in 2006 at 192 percent, or 2.5 million hectares. Biotech cotton area nearly tripled, exceeding China’s biotech cotton area for the first time.

• China: 3.5 million hectares. China increased its Bt cotton crop from 3.3 to 3.5 million hectares in 2006, a growth rate of 6 percent.

• Paraguay: 2 million hectares. Paraguay increased its biotech soybean area another 10 percent in 2006, to account for 90 percent of the country’s total soybean crop.

• South Africa: 1.4 million hectares. South Africa nearly tripled its biotech plantings in 2006, up from 0.5 million hectares in 2005. Insect-resistant white maize used for food and yellow maize used for feed accounted for the growth. Forty-four percent of the country’s white maize and 50 percent of the yellow maize were planted to biotech varieties.

• Uruguay: 400,000 hectares. Uruguay again increased its biotech crop area in 2006, growing more than 350,000 hectares of biotech soybean and more than 35,000 hectares of biotech maize.

• Philippines: 200,000 hectares. The Philippines increased its biotech maize area by more than 100 percent, up from 70,000 hectares last year.

• Australia: 200,000 hectares. Australia, one of the founder biotech crop countries, is seeing declining cotton area due to continued severe drought. About 90 percent of the country’s crop is planted to biotech varieties.

• Romania: 115,000 hectares. Nearly 80 percent of Romania’s soybean crop was planted to herbicide-tolerant varieties in 2006. Despite the country’s positive experiences with the crop in the past eight years, the Romanian Government has decided to discontinue cultivation of biotech soybean upon joining the EU  in January 2007.

• Mexico: 60,000 hectares. Due to regulatory issues that delayed importing of biotech cottonseed for the first planting, Mexico’s production of insect-resistant cotton dropped a third to 55,000 hectares in 2006 when it also grew about 5,000 hectares of biotech soybean. 

• Spain: 60,000 hectares. Unofficial estimates indicate Spain’s biotech maize hectarage in 2006 grew to approximately 15 percent of the total maize plantings of 370,000 hectares, up from about 12 percent in 2005. Spain continues to lead the EU in planting biotech crops.

• Colombia: 30,000 hectares. Colombia continued its steady increase of insect-resistant cotton planting to account for about 40 percent of the total crop. Colombia also planted its first crop of herbicide-tolerant cotton in 2006 on approximately 1,000 hectares.

• France: 5,000 hectares. In its second year of biotech plantings after a four-year gap, France experienced a five- to ten-fold increase in insect-resistant maize area in 2006, versus 500 to 1,000 hectares in 2005. Biotech maize has gained strong support among the country’s farmers, who stand to gain more from the crop than any other EU country.

• Iran: 4,000 hectares. While no formal estimates are available for biotech rice production in Iran, unofficial estimates suggest that the planted area will be at least equivalent to the 4,000 hectares planted in 2005.

• Honduras: 2,000 hectares. Honduras continued increasing its area of insect-resistant maize, reaching 1,000 hectares in 2006, while planting 1,000 hectares of herbicide-tolerant maize for the first time.

• Czech Republic (Czechia): 1,290 hectares. The fifth EU country to grow biotech crops experienced a ten-fold increase in Bt maize production in its second year of planting.

• Portugal: 1,250 hectares. In it’s second year of planting after a four-year gap, Portugal nearly doubled its area of Bt maize production in 2006.

• Germany: 950 hectares. While Germany plants a modest area of Bt maize, the hectarage has nearly tripled from the 350 hectares it has typically grown in the past six years.

• Slovakia: 30 hectares. The newest country to plant biotech crops, Slovakia grew a modest area of Bt maize in its first year of commercial planting. Slovakia became the sixth country in the EU to plant biotech crops.

HIGHLIGHTS

CropBiotech Special Edition
ISAAA Brief No. 35-2006

Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2006
by Clive James, Chair, Board of Directors
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA)*

Brief 35, the eleventh in an annual series, was released on 18 January 2007 in New Delhi, India. ISAAA Brief 35 characterizes the global status of commercialized genetically modified (GM) crops in 2006, now more often called biotech crops, as referred to consistently in the Brief. The focus on developing countries is consistent with ISAAA’s mission to assist developing countries in assessing the potential contribution of biotech crops to food security and alleviation of poverty and hunger. The principal aim is to present a consolidated set of data that will facilitate a knowledge-based discussion of the current global trends in biotech crops.

• 2006 marked the first year of the second decade of commercialization of biotech crops, 2006-2015. In 2006, the global biotech crop area continued to soar as the 100 millionth hectare barrier (250 millionth acre) was breached, when for the first time more than 10 million farmers (10.3 million) in 22 countries planted 102 million hectares of biotech crops, up from 90 million hectares planted by 8.5 million farmers in 21 countries in 2005. This unprecedented high adoption rate is testimony to the trust and confidence of millions of small and large farmers in crop biotechnology in both industrial and developing countries.
   

• Over the last eleven years, 1996 to 2006, 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. Remarkably, the global biotech crop area increased more than sixty-fold in the first eleven years of commercialization, making biotech crops the fastest adopted crop technology in recent history. The global area of approved biotech crops in 2006 was 102 million hectares, equivalent to over 250 million acres, up from 90 million hectares or 220 million acres in 2005. The increase of 12 million hectares or 30 million acres between 2005 and 2006, was the second highest in the last five years, and equivalent to an annual growth rate of 13% in 2006. It is noteworthy that more than half (55% or 3.6 billion people) of the global population of 6.5 billion live in the 22 countries where biotech crops were grown in 2006 and generated significant and multiple benefits. Also more than half (52% or 776 million hectares of the 1.5 billion hectares of arable land) of the cropland in the world is in the 22 countries where approved biotech crops were grown in 2006.
   

• A historic milestone was reached in 2006 when the accumulated area of biotech crops planted in the last eleven years, 1996 to 2006, exceeded 500 million hectares (577 million hectares) for the first time. Notably, one new country, Slovakia an EU country, joined another five EU biotech crop countries bringing the total number of EU countries planting biotech crops in 2006 to six, equivalent to almost one quarter of the total number of 25 EU countries. Spain continued to be the lead country in the EU planting approximately 60,000 hectares in 2006. Importantly, the collective Bt maize hectarage in the other five countries (France, Czech Republic, Portugal, Germany, and Slovakia) increased over 5-fold from approximately 1,500 hectares in 2005 to approximately 8,500 hectares, albeit on small hectarages; growth in these five countries is expected to continue in 2007.
   

• In 2006, 22 countries grew biotech crops, 11 developing countries and 11 industrial countries; they were, in order of hectarage, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, China, Paraguay, South Africa, Uruguay, Philippines, Australia, Romania, Mexico, Spain, Colombia, France, Iran, Honduras, Czech Republic, Portugal, Germany, and Slovakia.
   

• In 2006, the US followed by Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India and China were the six principal adopters of biotech crops globally, with India for the first time replacing China at number five in world ranking by planting more Bt cotton than China. The US retained its number one position globally with 54.6 million hectares (53% of global biotech area), followed by Argentina 18.0 million hectares, Brazil 11.5 million hectares, India 3.8 million hectares and China 3.5 million hectares. Of the 54.6 million hectares in the US, approximately 28% were stacked products containing two or three biotech traits in a single variety. The stacked products, currently deployed in the US, Canada, Australia, Mexico, South Africa and 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. Accordingly, number of “trait hectares” globally in 2006 was 117.7 million hectares compared with 102 million hectares of biotech crops globally, a 15% variance.
   

• The largest absolute increase in biotech crop area in any country in 2006 was in the US at 4.8 million hectares, followed by India 2.5 million hectares, Brazil 2.1 million hectares, with Argentina and South Africa with 0.9 million hectares each. India had the largest year-on-year proportional increase, with almost a three-fold or 192 % increase from 1.3 million hectares in 2005 to 3.8 million hectares in 2006, followed by South Africa at 180% from 0.5 million hectares in 2005 to 1.4 million hectares in 2006, and the Philippines with over a 100% increase from approximately 0.1 million hectares in 2005 to 0.2 million hectares in 2006.
   

• Biotech soybean continued to be the principal biotech crop in 2005, occupying 58.6 million hectares (57% of global biotech area), followed by maize (25.2 million hectares at 25%), cotton (13.4 million hectares at 13%) and canola (4.8 million hectares at 5% of global biotech crop area). Herbicide tolerant alfalfa, the first perennial biotech crop to be introduced globally was planted on 80,000 hectares in the US and RR® Flex herbicide tolerant cotton was introduced on over 800,000 hectares in the US and Australia. Virus resistant papaya, a fruit/food crop, was recommended for commercialization by China’s National Biosafety Committee in the last quarter of 2006.
   

• In 2006, herbicide tolerance, deployed in soybean, maize, canola, cotton and alfalfa continued to be the most dominant trait occupying 68% or 69.9 million hectares followed by Bt insect resistance at 19.0 million hectares (19%) and stacked traits occupied 13.1 million hectares (13%). Stacked traits were the fastest growing trait group between 2005 and 2006 with 30% growth, compared with 17% for insect resistance and 10% for herbicide tolerance.
   

• Biotech crops were grown by approximately 10.3 million farmers in 22 countries in 2006, up from 8.5 million farmers in 21 countries in 2005. Notably, 90%, or 9.3 million of the beneficiary farmers were small resource-poor farmers from developing countries, whose increased incomes from biotech crops contributed to the alleviation of their poverty. In 2006, approximately 9.3 million small resource-poor farmers (up from 7.7 million in 2005) benefited from biotech crops – the majority were in China with 6.8 million, 2.3 million in India, 100,000 in the Philippines and several thousand in South Africa including many women Bt cotton farmers, with the balance in the seven developing countries, which grew biotech crops in 2006. This initial modest contribution of biotech crops to the Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty and hunger by 50% by 2015 is an important development, which has enormous potential in the second decade of commercialization from 2006 to 2015.
   

• During the period 1996 to 2006, the proportion of the global area of biotech crops grown by developing countries increased every year. More than one-third (40%) of the global biotech crop area in 2006, equivalent to 40.9 million hectares, was grown in developing countries where growth between 2005 and 2006 was substantially higher (7.0 million hectares or 20% growth) than industrial countries (5.0 million hectares or 9% growth). The increasing collective impact of the five principal developing countries (China, India, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa) is an important continuing trend with implications for the future adoption and acceptance of biotech crops worldwide.
   

• In the first eleven years, 1996 to 2006, of the commercialization of biotech crops the accumulated global biotech crop area was 577 million hectares or 1.4 billion acres, equivalent to more than half of the total land area of the USA or China, or 25 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, health, economics, and social benefits realized by both large and small farmers, consumers and society in both industrial and developing countries.
   

• Global accumulated impact of biotech crops for the decade 1996 to 2005, in terms of net economic benefits to biotech crop farmers, was $27 billion ($13 billion for developing countries and $14 billion for industrial countries). The accumulated reduction in pesticides from 1996 to 2005 was 224,300 MT of active ingredient, equivalent to a 15% reduction in the associated environmental impact of pesticide use on these crops.
   

• There is cause for cautious optimism as the unprecedented growth in biotech crops, witnessed in the first decade of commercialization 1996 to 2005, continues in 2006, the first year of the second decade of commercialization 2006 to 2015. Indeed growth between now and 2015 may well surpass that in the first decade, as more biotech crops will be developed in mega-investment projects to meet ambitious biofuel targets. It is evident that biotechnology offers very significant advantages for increasing efficiency of biofuel production in both industrial and developing countries and will be a major factor in biofuel development in the future. Adherence to good farming practices, such as rotations and prudent management of insect resistance for biotech crops will remain critical, as it has been during the first decade. 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.

* A not-for-profit public charity, cosponsored by the public and private sectors, working to alleviate poverty in developing countries, by facilitating the sharing of knowledge, and transfer of crop biotechnology applications, to increase crop productivity and income generation, particularly for resource-poor farmers, and to bring about a safer environment and more sustainable agricultural development. ISAAA is a small International Network with a global hub in the Philippines and centers in Nairobi, Kenya, and at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA. Clive James, chairman and founder of ISAAA, has lived and worked for the past 25 years in the developing countries of Asia, Latin America and Africa, devoting his efforts to agricultural research and development issues with a particular focus on crop biotechnology and its contribution to global food security and the alleviation of poverty, hunger and malnutrition.

Further information about ISAAA can be obtained from its website www.isaaa.org. Please contact the ISAAA Center in SouthEast Asia: e-mail publications@isaaa.org for your copy of Brief 35. You may purchase a copy on-line at http://www.isaaa.org/purchasepublications/default.html for US$50. This includes a hard copy of the full version of Brief 35 and a special Executive Summary which will be expressly delivered to you by courier. The publication is available free of charge to eligible nationals of developing countries.

(1 hectare = 2.47 acres)