September 7, 2006
Brazil to swap illegal GM soy for legal ones in Rio Grande do Sul
Brazilian Agricultural Minister Luis Carlos Guedes Pinto said late Wednesday (Sep 6) that the government would swap illegal transgenic soy seeds for legal transgenic seeds in the upcoming 2006/07 season in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.
For weeks, soy growers in the country's third leading soy state of Rio Grande do Sul have been lobbying the government to allow seeds until now considered illegal in Brazil to be legalised temporarily or swapped in the upcoming season.
Farmers who are discovered to be planting illegal GM soybeans are denied low interest loans from government lenders.
The government on Wednesday, however, agreed to allow Rio Grande do Sul farmers to swap illegal genetically modified, or GM, soy seeds through the country's National Commodities Supply Corp (Conab).
"The objective is to provide incentive to the use of certified and vetted seeds to improve the quality of the crop," said Pinto in an official press statement released by the Agricultural Ministry.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will sign the decree legalising the swap next week, which is when the rules regarding the swap will also be announced.
At the same time, the government will also temporarily legalise the planting in Rio Grande do Sul of GM soy that has been modified for better tolerance to herbicide glyphosate--a primary ingredient in biotech multinational Monsanto's herbicide Roundup--for the 2006/07 harvest, said Pinto.
"The government recognises that there could be a lack of certified seeds in some areas of soy-planting in the state and because of this, has decided to anticipate it and will permit the use of private seeds for the next harvest," said the press statement.
Last week, Agricultural Ministry officials acknowledged that the government was studying various options to deal with the country's contraband GMO soy market, including a possible presidential decree authorizing the use of illegal GMO seeds for the new harvest, as well as a swap of illegal seeds for legal seeds.
For the past two harvests, the government has approved temporary congressional measures to legalise illegal GM soy seeds, due to concerns that the country's legal GM seed market could not meet farmer demand. Seeds are determined legal for planting by Brazil's biosecurity department, known as CNTBio.
This year, however, the country's National Association of Seeds (Abrasem) has declared that the country has adequate seed stocks to supply the entire country, to the dismay of producers who don't want to pay extra for legal seeds.
According to the Agricultural Ministry, however, certified GM soy seeds are only available for two-thirds of the planted soy area in Rio Grande do Sul, or about 4 million hectares.
Soy production in the state is estimated at 7.5 million tonnes in the 2005/06 harvest, with productivity of 1,900 kilogrammes per hectare.
Brazil is the world's second biggest soy exporter after the US.
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