Barley that has been genetically modified to resist the yellow dwarf virus.

Farmers in the developing world are increasingly turning to genetically modified (GM) crops, with planting up 21 percent in 2006 according to a new report.

Researchers at the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) say over 90 percent of those growing GM crops worldwide — around 9.3 million farmers — are small, resource-poor farmers in developing countries.

The authors say the rise in GM crop planting indicates a growing acceptance of them, but anti-GM organisations disagree. The report launched last week (18 January) says the total area of approved GM crops in 2006 was 102 million hectares in 22 countries — a 13 percent rise on the previous year.



About 40 percent of GM crops were grown in developing countries, which showed the biggest rise in growing area — 21 percent compared to nine percent in industrialised countries.

About 40 percent of GM crops were grown in developing countries, with a 21 percent increase in growing area, compared to nine percent in industrialised countries.

India had the largest proportional increase: 192 percent, an increase from 1.3 million hectares in 2005 to 3.8 million hectares in 2006. South Africa was second with an increase of 180 percent from 0.5 million hectares in 2005 to 1.4 million hectares in 2006.

The United States, followed by Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India and China were the six main adopters of GM crops.

According to its website, the ISAAA sees the high adoption rate of GM as "testimony to the trust and confidence of millions of small and large farmers in crop biotechnology in both industrial and developing countries".

However, both Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth published reports disagreeing with ISAAA's positive verdict.

Greenpeace says ISAAA's claims about GM's acceptance are "not consistent with the massive and continuing opposition from consumers, farmers, local and regional authorities, national governments and even major food companies".

Nnimmo Bassey of Friends of the Earth Africa told SciDev.Net, "No GM crop on the market today offers benefits to the consumer in terms of quality or price, and to date these crops have done nothing to alleviate hunger or poverty in Africa or elsewhere".




Contributed by Luisa Massarani, a journalist with a PhD in the scientific information distribution area. Reprinted with permission from SciDev.Net.

To read another Global Envision article about Genetically Modified agriculture, see Asia Holds the Key to the Future of Genetically Modified Food.



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