Bangkok--Apr 20--Aziam Burson-Marsteller
The Philippines is at the forefront of using biotechnology as an alternative means to ensure food security and alleviate poverty, and women are playing a bigger role in its propagation.
Dr. Clive James, visiting chairman of the board of directors of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application (ISAAA), said 8.1 million farmers worldwide who benefited from biotechnology were subsistence farmers in developing countries.
In the Philippines, some 50,000 subsistence farmers plant Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn which is resistant to the dreaded Asiatic corn borer.
Mr. James, who is an agricultural epidemiologist, noted that in the Bt corn fields of the Philippines, KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa, and the Xingjiang province of China, women farmers are reported to be a contributing factor in the propagation of biotech crops.
"Women produce 80% of the food, feed and fiber of South Africa," Mr. James said. "And in the Philippines, it is striking to know that there are lots of women farmers involved in the production of Bt corn so women are playing a very important role here."
Mr. James also cited the role of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in approving the use of biotechnology in the country.
He said Mrs. Arroyo played a key role in making biotechnology a role model for other Asian countries to follow.
"I don't know what will happen if she had opposed the technology," Mr. James said. "More Filipinos will end up malnourished and the issue of poverty will remain a bigger problem in the year[s
] to come."
He said there are several major benefits generated by biotechnology, including increase in productivity where Bt corn farmers got a 40% increase in yields, or eight times more than the 5% increase in Bt corn yield in the US.
Mr. James said the global value of production from biotech crops in 2003 was $44 billion.
He said another benefit from biotechnology is the challenge of feeding the world by year 2050. He said 90% of the population will be living in the developing countries of Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Mr. James said biotechnology can also help preserve biodiversity and protect the environment, particularly in soil erosion.
He also noted that scientists are looking at the possibility of producing drought-tolerant biotech crops.
"Biotechnology has been proven safe and we have 10 years of experience in the technology and not a single death related to it has been reported," Mr. James said.
"We have thousands of farmers attesting to its benefit gains and not a single one of them have reported a loss of profit or loss of life."
In the 2004 annual report released by ISAAA, the Philippines was ranked no. 14 among countries producing agricultural biotech products.
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