Saigon, Vietnam
October 17, 2002

by Hong Van
The Saigon Times Daily
via checkbiotech.org

Syngenta Vietnam says it will sell more genetically modified plants as well as transfer the relevant technology to Vietnam if the Government approves.

Henry Briggs, managing director of the Swiss-invested company, said Syngenta's modified genes focused on slowing the ripening period of bananas to help farmers and exporters preserve their products longer.

Great efforts are also centered on producing yellow rice with vitamin A concentration and high-protein hybrid corn for people and animals, he said at a consumer meeting held by An Giang Plant Protection
Service Co. (AGPPS) - the distributor of Syngenta agrochemicals and seeds in Vietnam.

"Syngenta Vietnam wants to introduce genetically modified seeds that do not affect the environment or public health," Briggs said.

Syngenta Vietnam, which holds a 21% stake of the local agrochemical market, is a major supplier of plant varieties, including hybrid corn grains and vegetables. "Through AGPPS, we have provided farmers with G49 hybrid corn, which has shorter harvest time and higher yield, since 1997," Briggs said.

The G49 variety was previously imported from Syngenta Thailand but AGPPS can now produce 500 tons a month at its factory in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.

"We want to market more plant varieties in Vietnam in addition to G49 but the registration and testing requirements take more than two years before we can commercially sell a product to farmers," Briggs
said.

Syngenta is the world's leading producer of agrochemicals and the third biggest provider of seed production technology. The group reported 2001 earnings of more than US$6.5 billion, including US$938 million from seed sales.

Two years ago, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment submitted a draft decree on the safety of bio-products and modified genes.

"The Government has not issued the decree for fear it will affect farm production," Bui Ba Bong, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said at a meeting with the HCMC Service of Agriculture and Rural Development on Tuesday.

Local scientists propose the Government issue a regulatory framework governing modified genes, something which Bong said would take ages to translate into reality.