Biotech Crops Continue Rapid Global Growth

For the sixth consecutive year, farmers worldwide adopted biotech a double-digit pace, with 2002 global biotech acreage reaching 145 million acres. More than one-fifth of the global crop area of soybeans, corn, cotton and canola acres are now biotech. Nearly 6 million farmers in 16 countries chose to plant biotech crops in 2002, up from 5 million farmers in 13 countries in 2001. More than three-quarters of these farmers were resource-poor farmers in developing countries.

"This high adoption rate is a strong vote of confidence in biotech crops, reflecting farmers' need for and satisfaction with the technology," says Clive James, chairman and founder of ISAAA. "In many cases, growers are finding biotechnology offers the only viable solution to protect crops from economically devastating pests."

While biotech cotton maintained its global acreage of 16.8 million acres, biotech corn acreage grew 27 percent to 30.6 million acres, biotech canola acreage increased 11 percent to 7.4 million acres, and biotech soybean production grew 10 percent to 90.2 million acres, exceeding more than 50 percent of the global soybean crop area for the first time. In the United States, biotech acreage grew by approximately 8.2 million acres, mainly due to significant increases in biotech corn and soybean acres.

The United States, Canada and China continued to be the leading growers of biotech crops, with more than half of China's cotton crop being biotech for the first time. But other countries are starting to follow suit.

The report indicates more than one-quarter of the global biotech acreage was grown in developing countries in 2002. India, Colombia and Honduras grew biotech crops for the first time. And, just last month, the region approved a variety of biotech corn, making this one of the first biotech feed crops approved for planting in Asia. For the first time, more than half the world's population lives in countries where biotech crops are approved and grown.

"Biotechnology continues to be the most rapidly adopted technology in agricultural history due to the social and economic benefits the crops offer farmers and society, particularly the 5 million resource-poor farmers in developing countries," James says. "Biotech crops can significantly alter the lives of these farmers, limiting the time they must spend in the field and helping alleviate poverty."

The report suggests Bt cotton farmers are seeing these benefits. In China, farmers growing Bt cotton increased their income an additional $200 per acre or $750 million nationally. The study reports similar results in South Africa, where half of farmers are women. The reduced insecticide sprays required with Bt cotton allow the farmers more time to care for their families or generate additional income from other activities.

"We can attend to other things besides staying in the field," says T.J. Buthelezi, a cotton farmer from the Makhatini Flats of South Africa. "Our standard of living is very much improved when we have money to send our children to school."

The ISAAA study also reports biotech crops are contributing to a reduction in pesticide usage. According to the study, Bt cotton alone is estimated to have the potential to eliminate the need for 33,000 tons of insecticide globally, or 40 percent of the current global use. In 2001, six biotech crops planted in the United States reduced pesticide use 23,000 tons.

The report projects continued near-term growth in global acreage of biotech crops and in the number of farmers who will use the technology. New biotech cotton and corn products are expected to be commercialized within the next few years as well, further increasing biotechnology's presence around the world. By 2005, the report predicts the global market value of biotech crops will reach $5 billion, up from approximately $4.25 billion in 2002 and

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) is a not-for-profit organization with an international network of centers designed to contribute to the alleviation of hunger and poverty by sharing crop biotechnology applications. Clive James, chairman and founder of ISAAA, has lived and worked for the past 25 years in the developing countries of Asia, Latin America and Africa, devoting his efforts to agricultural research and development issues. Lately, his focus is crop biotechnology and global food security.