January 19, 2004

 

 

Brazil Declare Major Soy Producing Region GMO Free

 

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to declare the Parana state free of genetically modified soybeans for the current 2003-04 season, Parana Gov. Roberto Requiao said after a meeting in the country's capital of Brasilia late Thursday.

 

In a press statement, the Parana governor said the move would help increase sales of the state's crop to major buyers such as China.

 

Back in September, Brazil's government allowed the planting of GMO soybean seeds for the first time, exclusively for the 2003-04 season (October- September), legalizing what had been an increasingly widespread practice for the last four years.

 

However, the federal government still bans GMO soybean use in states where the technology was not in clandestine use before.

 

A number of states have already been declared GMO free, including the No. 1 soybean-producing state Mato Grosso. However, Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues had delayed offering Parana this status because GMO planting is known to occur there.

 

Indeed, some 574 farmers in the state signed contracts with the federal government to plant GMOs.

 

The state is close to Rio Grande do Sul, where the bulk of Brazil's GMO planting occurs. With seeds regularly smuggled over state borders, unofficial estimates say up to 30% of Parana's crop could be GMO.

 

That despite rigorous efforts on the part of the Parana state government

to deter planting.

 

In October, Requiao signed a state law banning the production, sale and transport of GMO soy. The law was overruled by the Supreme Court in December, but not before most of the state's crop had been planted.

 

The law represented a potentially huge headache for the Brazilian soy industry as Brazil's biggest soy export port of Paranagua is located in the state, as is roughly a quarter of the country's crushing capacity.

 

Earlier in week, Parana state seized a small three-hectare field, which was suspected of having transgenic soy, because the owner had not registered the crop as GMO.

 

It was still unclear what would happen to those farmers in the state who had signed the contract with the federal government to plant GMOs from the current crop.

 

Brazil is set to overtake the U.S. as the world's No. 1 soybean producer in 2004. GMO soybeans are already used extensively in Brazil's main competitors, the U.S. and Argentina. GMO soy saves farmers money on chemicals, but environmentalists argue more tests are needed into their impact on environmental and human health.