Sao
Paulo, Brazil
January 11, 2006
ISAAA BRIEFS NO. 34-2005
GLOBAL STATUS OF COMMERCIALIZED BIOTECH/GM CROPS: 2005
by Clive James, Chair ISAAA
Board of Directors
Global area of biotech
crops in million hectares (1996-2005) |
 |
Increase of 11%, 9/0
million hectares or 22 million acres between 2004 and
2005 |
Farmer demand has driven annual double-digit
increases in biotech crop adoption since the crops were
commercialized a decade ago. In 2005, four new countries and a
quarter million more farmers planted biotech crops as part of an
11 percent increase in global biotech crop area, according to a
report released today, authored by Dr. Clive James, chairman and
founder of ISAAA, the
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications.
Since initial commercialization in 1996,
global planted area of biotech crops has soared by more than
fifty-fold from 1.7 million hectares in six countries to 90
million hectares in 21 countries in 2005. The 8.5 million
farmers planting biotech crops in 2005 also marked a significant
milestone as the 1 billionth cumulative acre, or 400 millionth
hectare, was planted.
Herbicide-tolerant soybeans continue to be the
most widely adopted trait, accounting for 60 percent of the
total global area. Varieties with stacked traits are growing in
popularity, accounting for 10 percent of the global area. In
2005, 100 million “trait hectares” were planted, which better
quantifies those hectares planted to varieties with multiple
biotech enhancements.
“Farmers from the United States to Iran, and
five EU countries demonstrate a trust and confidence in biotech
crops, as indicated by the unprecedented high adoption rate of
these crops,” said Dr. James, chairman and founder of ISAAA.
“The continued expansion of countries growing biotech crops also
bears witness to the substantial economical, environmental and
social benefits associated with these crops.”
Notably, in 2005 Iran grew its first crop of
biotech rice, the first biotech planting of this important food
crop globally. The Czech Republic planted Bt maize for the first
time, bringing the total number of EU countries growing biotech
crops to five with Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic being
joined by France and Portugal, which resumed planting biotech
maize after four and five year gaps, respectively. This could
signal an important trend in the EU.
Global status of biotech crops in 2005 |
 |
50,000
hectares or more
|
|
less than 50,000 hectares |
USA |
49.8
million |
Argentina |
17.1
million |
Brazil |
9.4
million |
Canada |
5.8
million |
China |
3.3
million |
Paraguay |
1.8
million |
India |
1.3
million |
|
South Africa |
.5
million |
Uruguay |
.3
million |
Australia |
.3
million |
Mexico |
.1
million |
Romania |
.1
million |
Philippines |
.1
million |
Spain |
.1
million |
|
Columbia |
Iran |
Honduras |
Portugal |
Germany |
France |
Czech Republic |
|
|
Two-thirds or 14 of the 21 countries growing
biotech crops achieved “mega-country” status by planting 50,000
hectares or more in 2005, including the United States,
Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Paraguay, India, South Africa,
Uruguay, Australia, Mexico, Romania, the Philippines and Spain.
Brazil experienced the most significant
growth, increasing its biotech soybean area by
88 percent to reach a provisional 9.4 million hectares in 2005.
India displayed the largest proportional growth, nearly
three-fold, by planting 1.3 million hectares of Bt cotton in
2005 compared to 500,000 hectares in 2004.
When biotech crops were first commercialized,
critics suggested the technology would never be valuable in the
developing world. Now, resource-poor farmers in developing
countries account for 90 percent of the 8.5 million growers who
benefit from biotechnology, while developing nations represent
more than one-third of 2005 global biotech area.
“Biotech crops have increased the income of
7.7 million resource-poor farmers in China, India, South Africa,
the Philippines and seven other developing countries, helping
alleviate them from abject poverty,” James said. “The broader
commercialization of biotech rice, the most important food crop
of the world’s 1.3 billion poor and the 850 million hungry and
malnourished, can further this effort. Biotech rice could make a
substantial contribution to the formidable U.N. Millennium
development goal of reducing poverty, hunger and malnutrition by
50 percent by 2015.”
James indicated the future looks promising for
continued increases in adoption levels in the next decade.
“I am cautiously optimistic the stellar growth
experienced during the first decade of commercialization will
not only continue, but will be surpassed in the second decade,”
he said. “The number of countries and farmers growing biotech
crops is expected to grow, particularly
in developing countries, while second-generation input and
output traits are expected to
become available.”
According to the report, other indicators of
continued growth include China’s expected near-term adoption of
biotech rice, more nutritional biotech food and feed, products
and the anticipated introduction of novel crop products used as
renewable resources for more sustainable and affordable
production of biofuels. ISAAA projects the global value of the
biotech crop market to increase from $5.25 billion in 2005 to
$5.5 billion in 2006.
The report’s executive summary can be accessed
at
http://www.isaaa.org.
HIGHLIGHTS
The Brief, the
tenth in an annual series, was released on 11 January 2006.
ISAAA Brief 34 characterizes the global status in 2005 of
commercialized GM crops, now 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 of biotech
crops. 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.
-
In 2005, the
global biotech crop area continued to soar as the billionth
acre, equivalent to the 400 millionth hectare of a biotech
crop, was planted by one of 8.5 million farmers, in one of
21 countries. This unprecedented high adoption rate reflects
the trust and confidence of millions of farmers in crop
biotechnology.
-
Over the last
decade, 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
fifty-fold in the first decade of commercialization.
-
The global
area of approved biotech crops in 2005 was 90 million
hectares, equivalent to 222 million acres, up from 81
million hectares or 200 million acres in 2004. The increase
was 9 million hectares or 22 million acres, equivalent to an
annual growth rate of 11% in 2005.
-
A historic
milestone was reached in 2005 when 21 countries grew biotech
crops, up significantly from 17 countries in 2004. Notably,
of the four new countries that grew biotech crops in 2005,
compared with 2004, three were EU countries, Portugal,
France, and the Czech Republic whilst the fourth was Iran.
Portugal and France resumed the planting of Bt maize in 2005
after a gap of 5 and 4 years respectively, whilst the Czech
Republic planted Bt maize for the first time in 2005,
bringing the total number of EU countries now
commercializing modest areas of Bt maize to five, viz:
Spain, Germany, Portugal, France and the Czech Republic. In
2005, the 21 countries growing biotech crops included 11
developing countries and 10 industrial countries; they were,
in order of hectarage, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada,
China, Paraguay, India, South Africa, Uruguay, Australia,
Mexico, Romania, the Philippines, Spain, Colombia, Iran,
Honduras, Portugal, Germany, France and the Czech Republic.
-
In 2005
biotech rice (Bt) was grown commercially for the first time
on approximately four thousand hectares in Iran by several
hundred farmers. Iran and China are the most advanced
countries in the commercialization of biotech rice, which is
the most important food crop in the world, grown by 250
million farmers, and the principal food of the world’s 1.3
billion poorest people, mostly subsistence farmers. Thus,
the commercialization of biotech rice has enormous
implications for the alleviation of poverty, hunger, and
malnutrition, not only for the rice growing and consuming
countries in Asia, but for all biotech crops and their
acceptance on a global basis. China has already field tested
biotech rice in pre-production trials and is expected to
approve biotech rice in the near-term.
-
In 2005, the
US, followed by Argentina, Brazil, Canada and China
continued to be the principal adopters of biotech crops
globally, with 49.8 million hectares planted in the US (55%
of global biotech area) of which approximately 20% were
stacked products containing two or three genes, with the
first triple gene product making its debut in maize in the
US in 2005. The stacked products, currently deployed in the
US, Canada, Australia, Mexico, and South Africa and approved
in 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.
Number of “trait hectares” in US in 2005 was 59.4 million
hectares compared with 49.8 million hectares of biotech
crops, a 19% variance, and globally 100 million “trait
hectares” versus 90 million hectares, a 10% variance.
-
The largest
increase in any country in 2005 was in Brazil, provisionally
estimated at 4.4 million hectares (9.4 million hectares in
2005 compared with 5 million in 2004), followed by the US
(2.2 million hectares), Argentina (0.9 million hectares) and
India (0.8 million hectares). India had by far the largest
year-on-year proportional increase, with almost a three-fold
increase from 500,000 hectares in 2004 to 1.3 million
hectares in 2005.
-
Biotech
soybean continued to be the principal biotech crop in 2005,
occupying 54.4 million hectares (60% of global biotech
area), followed by maize (21.2 million hectares at 24%),
cotton (9.8 million hectares at 11%) and canola (4.6 million
hectares at 5% of global biotech crop area).
-
In 2005,
herbicide tolerance, deployed in soybean, maize, canola and
cotton continued to be the most dominant trait occupying 71%
or 63.7 million hectares followed by Bt insect resistance at
6.2 million hectares (18%) and 10.1 million hectares (11%)
to the stacked genes. The latter was the fastest growing
trait group between 2004 and 2005 at 49% growth, compared
with 9% for herbicide tolerance and 4% for insect
resistance.
-
Biotech crops
were grown by approximately 8.5 million farmers in 21
countries in 2005, up from 8.25 million farmers in 17
countries in 2004. Notably, 90% of the beneficiary farmers
were resource-poor farmers from developing countries, whose
increased incomes from biotech crops contributed to the
alleviation of their poverty. In 2005, approximately 7.7
million poor subsistence farmers (up from 7.5 million in
2004) benefited from biotech crops – the majority in China
with 6.4 million, 1 million in India, thousands in South
Africa including many women Bt cotton farmers, more than
50,000 in the Philippines, with the balance in the seven
developing countries which grew biotech crops in 2005. This
initial modest contribution of biotech crops to the
Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty 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 2005, the proportion of the global area of
biotech crops grown by developing countries increased every
year. More than one-third of the global biotech crop area in
2005, equivalent to 33.9 million hectares, was grown in
developing countries where growth between 2004 and 2005 was
substantially higher (6.3 million hectares or 23% growth)
than industrial countries (2.7 million hectares or 5%
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
decade, the accumulated global biotech crop area was 475
million hectares or 1.17 billion acres, equivalent to almost
half of the total land area of the USA or China, or 20 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, economics,
and social benefits realized by both large and small
farmers, consumers and society in both industrial and
developing countries.
-
There is cause
for cautious optimism that the stellar growth in biotech
crops, witnessed in the first decade of commercialization,
1996 to 2005, will continue and probably be surpassed in the
second decade 2006-2015. Adherence to good farming practices
with biotech crops will remain critical as it has been
during the first decade and 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.
(1 hectare =
2.47 acres)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
http://www.isaaa.org/kc/bin/briefs34/es/index.htm
Figures (JPG format):
Title |
In Million Acres
|
In Million Hectares
|
Global Area of Biotech Crops, 1996 to 2005 |
|
|
Global Area of Biotech Crops, 1996 to 2005:
Industrial and Developing Countries |
|
|
Global Area of Biotech Crops, 1996 to 2005: by
Country |
|
|
21 Biotech Crop Countries and Mega-Countries, 2005 |
|
|
Global Area of Biotech Crops, 1996 to 2005: by Crop |
|
|
Global Area of Biotech Crops, 1996 to 2005: by Trait |
|
|
Global Adoption Rates (%) for Principal Biotech
Crops |
|
|
The
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications (ISAAA) is a not-for-profit organization with an
international network of centers designed to contribute to the
alleviation of hunger and poverty by sharing crop biotechnology
applications. 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
focus on crop biotechnology and global food security.
Further
information about ISAAA can be obtained from its website
http://www.isaaa.org. To order publications contact ISAAA’s
Center in SouthEast Asia: e-mail
publications@isaaa.org. For orders from industrial
countries, ISAAA Briefs are US$50 each, by courier, but are
available free of charge for nationals of developing countries. |