FEED Business Worldwide - July 2012

 

Going Bt: The rise of genetically modified corn in the Philippines 

 

by Gemma C. DELMO

 

 

With the Philippine population at 95 million and increasing rapidly, demand for meat is also on the rise. As such, demand for feed has also surged where corn--the most important feed ingredient - tops the list. But while innovative ways of boosting feed supplies are always welcome, genetically modified (GM) corn has not been without controversy.

 

Called "frankenfood" by city-based cynics, GM, insect resistant Bt corn is as popular in the countryside as it is despised by urban educated masses. According to agri-journalist Bong Sarmiento, between then and now, the controversy stirred by GM corn has simmered down,  "a far cry from what happened a decade ago when massive protests marred its proposed introduction in the country." 

 

 

 

After it was introduced in 2002, Sarmiento noted that the Philippines--the first country in Asia to plant GM corn--has become a sort of case study for farmers from neighbouring countries as far as transgenic crops are concerned. According to the International Acquisition for Agri-GM Applications (ISAAA), the area planted with GM corn is projected at 690,000 hectares devoted to producing Bt (Bacillus Thuringesis) corn, up a whopping 6,172% from a mere 11,000 hectares in 2003. 

 

ISAAA chairman and board director Clive James said that the adoption of GM corn in the Philippines has been consistently every year since it was first introduced in 2002 with farm-level economic gains from GM corn from 2003 to 2010 now estimated at US$170 million.  ISAAA senior programme officer

 

Dr. Rhodora Aldemita says that 270,000 farmers are already planting the grain and that provinces that were not planting before are already planting now.  "It is continuing and will be higher in 2012 as we aim for self-sufficiency in corn, particularly for animal feeds. More than 50% of corn farmers are already planting GM corn, where 90% of production is located on northern Philippines. Gradually, the GM corn will be ready for human consumption," projects Dr Aldemita.

 

Significantly, Dr James said the impact of GM corn adoption by small farmers has been "impressive." For James, GM corn's exponentially fast uptake is proof that confidence and trust in what was once a highly feared GM variant has been overwhelming.  Because of its proven resiliency against diseases, GM corn made the Philippines 13th largest producer of the transgenic grain in the world, making the country a "role model" for other budding GM producing nations.

 

 

 

The Bt corn was among the pioneer crop that was planted when they were first introduced in the country. According to Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), Bt corn was designed to combat the devastating effects of the Asian corn borer. With Bt corn providing natural resistance to this longstanding scourge, farmers are using 60% less pesticide to grow their corn than before. Even though corn production is rising, a rising proportion who use Bt corn find they need little if any pesticide inputs. This is because Bt corn carries a transplanted gene that produces delta-endoxin, a protein which causes Asian corn borers to get sick and eventually die.  

 

BPI data showed that as of 2011, the largest Bt corn farms are located in Region 2 or the Cagayan Valley Region with 325, 613 hectares, followed by SOCCSKSARGEN  (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat,Sarangani and General Santos City) with 91,505 hectares  and the Ilocos Region with 68,502 hectares.

 

But while the Philippines may be GM corn's Southeast Asian posterboy, the battle to gain acceptance was not an easy one. Before it was finally introduced in 2002, hundreds of farmers and militant groups stormed the field-testing site of Monsanto in Tampakan, South Cotabato, uprooting Bt corn harvests that were about to be harvested in what was their first bold protest against the multi-location field trials of the transgenic crop nationwide.

The opposition against Bt corn was anchored on concerns over human health and the environment. It was also called a threat to food security, as it was supposed to be capable of contaminating conventional corn farms with its genetically modified pollen.

 

Now, farmers seemed to be satisfied with the Bt corn's results as it can produce more than a half tonne per acre in corn yield improvements. Best of all for cash strapped Philippine farmers, the extra corn creates more revenue while reducing the quantity and expense of other inputs.

 

This improvement has led some companies to develop 'stacked traits' that combine anti-pest qualities with resistance to weed killers. The eliminates the need for manual weeding in the farm. Moreover, with weeding not required, less soil is turned over, resulting in far fewer losses of topsoil and its nutrients.

 

To date, there has not been any negative impact of Bt corn as more Filipino farmers have attested to the crop's higher yield, lower production cost and safe environment impact.  Farmers in Mindanao say that there has been no negative effect on insect population in Bt corn fields.

 

In fact, with GM corn minimising the need to use pesticides, there has been an actual increase in the population of beneficial insects like beetles, spiders and ladybugs. With less pesticides being used, a higher population of pollinating insects has helped boost crop yields.