August 4, 2005

Philippines approves fourth GM corn

The Philippines has approved the sale and planting of a fourth GM corn in the country. Developed by US agrochemical firm Monsanto and called the stacked-trait corn, this GM corn is the third Monsanto variety to be approved by the Philippines.

This corn is resistant to the Asiatic corn borer pest, the leading destroyer of corn crops in the country, causing losses of up to 80 percent in yields. It is also tolerant to herbicides, said the country's Bureau of Plant Industry.

Monsanto first introduced the Philippines to GM corn in 2003. The country is also the first Asian country to commercialise GM corn, using it largely for animal feed production. GM corn has also been largely accepted in the local market.

Every year, the Philippines has to import corn as domestic demand outstrips production.

In 2004, the country imported 540,000 tonnes of corn for animal feed. About 52,000 hectares of Philippine land were planted with GM corn last year too, taking up 2 percent of 2.5 million hectares of corn-planting area.