June 29, 2012
 

Philippines issues new guidelines on Bt corn

The Philippine government will implement new guidelines on the planting of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn all over the country that take effect on September 1.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) released Memorandum Circular 3, Series of 2012,which specified an insect resistance management (IRM) in Bt corn. IRM refers to the deployment of a combination of strategies designed to reduce the risk of the insect Asiatic born borer (ACB) developing resistance to the Bt corn plant.

As of September 1, 2012, all technology developers and seed developers are required to package 20 percent properly labeled non-Bt corn seeds in a white bag inside the larger bag containing 80 percent Bt corn seeds," MC 3 read.

"All farms planted to Bt corn will implement a structured refuge using this bag-in-a-bag strategy," it said.

The structured refuge pertains to the planting in the same field 80 percent Bt and 20 percent non-Bt corn.

The DA cited the rapid expansion of Bt corn areas in the Philippines as one of the reasons for issuing the new IRM in Bt corn.

The provision on structured refuge has been prescribed as one of the measures in the IRM in Bt corn as early as 2003.

But given the low adoption of Bt corn in 2003, the government allowed the implementation of "unrestructured refuge" wherein the sale of Bt was regulated by the state.

An industry expert noted that having a structured refuge will ensure that corn farmers planting Bt corn will continue to enjoy the benefits of using the technology for years.

Currently, around 690,000 hectares of farm areas all over the Philippines are devoted to producing Bt corn. In 2003, when Bt corn was first commercialized, only around 11,000 hectares of farm areas were planted to the genetically engineered yellow corn variant.

Yellow corn-a major ingredient for making animal feeds-is one of the major crops grown in the Philippines. Last year the country's yellow-corn production was pegged at 4.82 million tonnes.