London (16
January, 2006) – Every year since they were first introduced in 1995/6,
the worldwide acreage planted to GM crops has increased markedly.
In 2005 it did so again, up 11% to a total of 91 million hectares. The increased
acreage was about equivalent to the combined areas of Austria and Wales; the
total is now nearly four times the area of the United Kingdom.
In 2004, 17 countries were involved in commercial production of biotech. crops;
in 2005, this number had grown to 21. Five of those countries (the Czech Republic,
France, Germany, Portugal and Spain) are in the European Union; another (Romania)
is a candidate country expected to join in 2007. In addition, several countries
in Africa and Asia are conducting field tests with a view to beginning commercial
production in the years to come.
The proportion of global plantings taking place in the developing countries
in now 38%. It is not unlikely that before too long the developing country
total will outstrip that of the industrial nations. Early adopters of GM technology,
especially the United States, are almost at saturation level for the GM commodity
crops now available: cotton, maize, oilseed rape and soya. When the second
generation direct consumer benefit crops are ready for the market and –
above all – when the decision is made to plant GM wheat on a commercial
basis, we can expect to see industrial country acreages take a marked upward
swing.
It is in the developing countries that we may expect the most dramatic proportional
advances in planting in the immediate years ahead. As more and more farmers
in those countries see the benefits, and ever more countries begin commercial
plantings, the opportunities for major increases in acreages given over to
GM crops becomes clear. In the wings waits perhaps the largest potential development
of all: GM rice. China is said to be on the verge of going down that road
while Iran is reported already to be doing so.
We have noted in an earlier piece on this website that in 2000, at a public
meeting in the presence of hundreds of people (including members of CropGen),
one of the senior figures in the UK’s organic sector predicted that
within five years GM crops and foods would have disappeared, rejected and
consigned to history. He could not have been more wrong.
Sources:
1. ISAAA Briefs 34 Highlights - Global status of commercialized biotech/GM
crops – 2005. International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications (11.1.06) (http://www.isaaa.org)
2. ISAAA Briefs No. 34 - 2005 Executive Summary - Global Status of Commercialized
Biotech/GM Crops – 2005. International Service for the Acquisition
of Agri-biotech Applications (11.1.06) (http://www.isaaa.org)
3. Melody M. Aguiba. Iran releases world's first Bt-rice. Manila
Bulletin (26.11.2005) (http://www.afaa.com.au/news/news-1698.asp)
4. A week to remember. CropGen website (29.4 2005) (http://www.cropgen.org/article_11.html)
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