GM crop acreage increasing rapidly in SA

Biotech farming is increasing rapidly in SA, with a further 400 000 ha of agricultural land turned over last year to the planting of genetically modified (GM) crops.

This takes the total area under GM cultivation in SA to 1,8m ha - an increase of almost 30% over the area cultivated in 2006, a study by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application (Isaaa) shows.

Still the only African country to commercialise biotech crops - Burkina Faso and Egypt look set to follow soon - SA is in its 11th year of biotech agriculture and has emerged as one of the world's most important centres in terms of applying and spreading the technology.

"SA has the necessary resource base and experience in biotech crops that allow it to exert leadership in international networking... to develop innovative and creative new modes of technology transfer that can be shared with other biotech-crop aspiring countries in Africa," the Isaaa report says.

Ranked eighth in the world in terms of biotech hectarage employed, SA has since 1997 approved the cultivation of insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant maize, soybean and cotton varieties. The GM seeds have to be approved by the department of agriculture after being vetted by a team of academic scientists.

Moreover, as confidence in the technology has grown, the areas under cultivation have increased steadily every year since the first biotech plantings took place in 1998.

Biotech maize accounted for the biggest proportion of last year's hectarage increase, and now takes up to two-thirds of SA's total white maize area of 1,7m ha.

Farmers using GM crops say the technology has substantially increased yields. Gert Pretorius, a commercial farmer in Lichtenburg, says he recorded an average increase of 400 kg/ha and saved R120/ha on aerial insecticide spraying. Free State commercial farmer Theuns Pretorius reports that an increased yield of 658 kg/ha has netted him an additional income of R1m.

A study done by the University of Pretoria has put the average yield increase for biotech maize over conventional maize at about 10%. The technology has also been adopted by small-scale and subsistence farmers, who similarly report much improved yields.

Advocate Mdutshane, a chief in Ixopo, KwaZulu Natal, says 120 emergent farmers in his region have increased yields from 1,5 t/ha to 3,5 t/ha through the elimination of the stalk borer pest, which normally damages up to 60% of the crop.

Richard Sithole, chairman of KZN's Hlabisa District Farmers' Union, says 250 subsistence maize farmers on smallholdings averaging 2,5 ha increased yields by between 20% and 40%. Though this translated into increases in individual incomes often as little as R2 000, Sithole said the additional disposable income in the community was a boost for shopkeepers, vegetable producers and other small businesses in the area.

SA's 1,8m ha under biotech crops is still relatively minute in comparison with the US (57,7m ha), Argentina (19,1m ha), Brazil (15m ha), Canada (7m ha), India (6,2m ha) and China (3,8m ha).

Isaaa, which environmental groups accuse of bias towards big biotech companies such as Monsanto, reports sustained growth of 12% in biotech agriculture areas, meaning a further 12,3m ha coming under cultivation last year and bringing the total area worldwide to 114,3m ha.

The organisation predicts that the area utilised will double by 2015, with substantial increases in the number of countries that have adopted the technology, as well as more crops and farmers. Though just 23 countries have approved the technology, those countries together account for 55% of global population.

Isaaa says that Burkina Faso, Egypt and Vietnam are the next most likely countries to approve biotech crops, and that drought-stricken Australia is field-testing drought-tolerant wheat.

The number of farmers switching to biotech agriculture globally increased by 2m to 12m last year.

Clive James, chairman of Isaaa, says the sharp escalation in global food prices spurred the use of biotech crops last year. "If we are to achieve the UN's Millennium Development Goals of halving hunger and poverty by 2015, biotech crops must play an even bigger role in the next decade."

Opponents of biotech agriculture express concerns about the long-term safety of the crops they dub "Frankenfood". They point out that GM crops have been planted for just 12 years, which might not be long enough for negative effects to emerge.

Resistance to biotech crops is particularly fierce in the EU, where Poland last year became just the eighth of the 27 countries to adopt it, and where Spain, by far that region's biggest biotech producer, has just 70 000 ha under cultivation.

James believes the misgivings are unfounded. "Unjustified stringent standards designed to meet the needs of resource-rich industrial countries are denying the developing countries timely access to products such as golden rice (rice enriched with pro-vitamin A through biotechnology) while millions die unnecessarily in the interim."

The reluctance of African countries to adopt biotech agriculture is to a great extent ascribed to fears of losing their lucrative European export markets. Polls show that seven in 10 Europeans say they would not eat biotech food. Pest-resistant maize is to date the only product approved for cultivation in Europe.

Isaaa identifies the expected approval of biotech rice as the most important event of the next five years. Rice is the staple food of the world's poorest people, and biotech rice has already been produced in Iran since 2005. Field trials have been completed in China and are under way in India.

"Biotech rice has enormous potential to coincidentally contribute to food security and alleviation of poverty," the report says.

US multinational Monsanto dominates the global biotech seed industry. Its seeds are planted on more than 90% of global biotech land and, in SA, it holds the patents for all but one of the 11 varieties of biotech maize, cotton and soybean approved for planting since 1997.

Edinburgh-based consultancy Cropnosis estimates the value of the biotech seed industry in 2007 at US$6,9bn, consisting of $3,2bn for maize (47% of the total), $2,6bn for soybean (37% ), $900m for cotton (13%) and $200m for canola (3%). In 2008, the biotech crop market is projected to rise to $7,5bn, of which about three-quarters is in developed markets.

Financial Mail