December 22, 2003

 

Brazil Soy Farmers Sign Agreement to Plant GMO Soy

 

Figures announced by Brazilian Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues show that 73,247 farmers have signed up to plant genetically modified soybeans in the current season.

 

The current 2003-04 season (October-September) is the first in which Brazilian farmers are allowed to plant GMO soybeans. But to do so legally they had to send a signed declaration to the government by Dec. 9.

 

The minister said a few more declarations may have arrived since the figures were calculated on Tues, Dec. 16, but that the additions would be insignificant.

 

The Agriculture Ministry had expected between 50,000 and 100,000 producers to sign the agreement.

 

However, there certainly remain a large number of producers planting GMOs without signing up.

 

Traders and analysts expect more than 20% of the crop to be GMO next season, with planting concentrated in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, where up to 90% of the crop is thought to be transgenic.

 

However, only the 73,247 of the state's estimated 150,000 soybean farmers signed the declaration.

 

According to Ezidio Pinheiro, president of the Rio Grande do Sul agricultural workers' federation, or Fetag, many producers did not sign the agreement as it did not reflect the modifications recently made by Congress to the terms under which farmers could plant GMOs.

 

Under the agreement, farmers are liable to pay royalties on their illicitly produced GMO seeds, while the Agriculture Ministry says changes made by Congress to the bill mean they are probably not.

 

Fetag had requested more time for farmers to sign.

 

Meanwhile, some 464 farmers signed contracts in neighboring Parana state, despite the fact the state government passed a law maintaining a ban on GMOs in October.

 

This ban was only overturned last week following a decision from the Supreme Court.

 

In truth, farmers have already planted soybeans this year. According to the local Safras e Mercado consultancy, 99% of Brazil's potentially record soybean crop is already in the ground.

 

Brazil looks set to become the world's largest soybean exporter in 2004, surpassing the U.S.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture sees production reaching around 60 million tons from this crop.