23.02.10
Global GMO acreage growth declines
Manila – Global acreage of genetically engineered crops reached 134 million hectares (ha) in the last year, according to the annual statistics of the ISAAA (more). Although this is an increase of 7.1% compared to 2008 figures, overall the expansion of GMO crops has fallen since the record year 2006, when the growth rate hit 12%, followed by an 11.3% growth in 2007, and 9.4% in 2008. One reason may be that GMO development has focused on two traits (insect resistance and herbicide tolerance) in just 4 crops (soybean, cotton, maize and rapeseed) in the last 14 years, and these currrently represent 98.5% of all biotech crops. According to the ISAAA soybeans were planted on 69.3 m ha (+3.5 m ha compared to 2008). Maize grew on 41m ha (+3.5 m ha). Cotton was cultivated on 16.2 m ha (+0.7m ha), and rapeseed cultivation achieved 6.5m ha (+0,6m ha) in 2009. Almost 95% of all biotech crops were grown in 6 of the 25 that use GMO plants: the US (64m ha, +2.4%), Brazil (21.4m ha, +35%), Argentina (21.3m ha, +1.4%), India (8.4m ha, + 11%), Canada (8.2m ha, +7.9%), and China (3.7m ha, –2,6%). The ISAAA said that it expects further growth in China, after Bt63 rice and a Bt maize gained biosaftey certification for commercial acreage from the Chinese government (more...). The ISAA expects further growth in the coming years due to the fact that governments realised that climate change, global population growth and the oil peak in 2050 will challenge crop productivity and quality.