More filipino farmers now plant biotech corn

By Henrylito D. Tacio
As a result of drought, the area planted to biotech corn in the Philippines has decreased by 15% — from 831,000 hectares in 2014 to 702,000 hectares in 2015, according to a new report released by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).
“The number of small resource-poor farmers, growing on average 2 hectares of biotech maize in the Philippines in 2015 was estimated at 350,000,” said the report, 20th Anniversary (1996 to 2015) of the Global Commercialization of Biotech Crops and Biotech Crop Highlights in 2015.
Bt maize is a variant of corn that has been genetically altered to express one or more proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt).  Bt, which has been found in Philippine soils, was discovered to have an insecticidal property in 1901.  By the 1950s, Bt became a well-known biological insecticide.
The Bt protein is expressed throughout the plant. “When a vulnerable insect eats the Bt-containing plant, the protein is activated in its gut, which is alkaline,” explained W.S. Cranshaw in a fact sheet published by the Colorado State University Extension Office.  
“In the alkaline environment,” Cranshaw continued, “the protein partially unfolds and is cut by other proteins, forming a toxin that paralyzes the insect’s digestive system and forms holes in the gut wall. The insect stops eating within a few hours and eventually starves.”
In the Philippines, most farmers planted the corn with Bt/HT traits compared to those with only herbicide tolerant (HT) trait.  About 646,000 hectares (92%) has been planted to the former while only 55,000 hectares (8%) were planted to the latter.
“This reflects the preference of farmers for stacked traits and the superior benefits they offer over a single trait,” the report pointed out.
The report said that the hectarage planted to the single trait Bt corn decreased to 32% (from 2008 to 2009) to 76% in 2012, with a total of only 3,000 hectares.  Since 2013, the single trait Bt maize has not been planted.
On the other hand, the single trait HT corn was planted on 70,000 hectares in 2014, which is only 8.4% of the total biotech corn planted in the country.  This was further reduced to 8% (55,000) in 2015.
At 63%, the adoption rate of planting biotech corn in 2015 was similar to that of 2014.  “In the period 2003 to 2015, there were 13 years of consecutive growth in hectarage of biotech maize with the exception of 2015 due to drought,” the report said.
Since 2003, when biotech corn was planted, yield of corn in the country increased from 1.85 metric tons per hectare to current 2.93 metric tons per hectare.  As a result, “the farmers have benefitted immensely due to this increased yield,” the report said. 
At a constant land area of 2.6 million hectares, corn production has provided sufficient local supply that reduced corn imports and set the country’s road to corn self-sufficiency since 2011.
In 2014, local yellow corn supply was 5.5 million metric tons providing local corn demand for feeds of 5 million metric tons, with only 575,000 metric tons of corn imports for special purpose.
According to the report, the farm level economic benefit of planting biotech corn in the Philippines is estimated to have reached US$560 million in the period 2003 to 2014.  “For 2014 alone, the net national impact of biotech maize on farm income was estimated at US$89 million,” said the report.
Some studies showed that the gain in profit at the farmer level was computed at P10,132 per hectare for farmers planting Bt corn with a corresponding savings of P168 per hectare in insecticide costs.
In another socio-economic impact study, it was found that the additional farm income from Bt corn was P7,482 per hectare during the dry season and P7,080 per hectare during the wet season.  The study was based from the 2003-2004 crop year.
“Using data from 2004-2005 crop years, it was determined that Bt maize could provide an overall income advantage that ranged from 5-14% during the wet season and 20-40% during the dry season,” the report said.
The Philippines has already achieved the “biotech mega-country status” with biotech corn planted to more than 50,000 hectares.  It is one of the only two Southeast Asian countries to plant biotech corn; the other country is Vietnam.
“The Philippines continues to be in the forefront of biotech research and commercialization in the region, as well as a model for science based and thorough regulatory policy,” the report said.
Biotech corn has been planted since 2003, and the country is “gearing up for the possible commercialization of products of public sector collaboration such as Golden Rice, Bt eggplant, virus resistant papaya and Bt cotton,” the report noted.
Since 2002, there have been 88 biotech crop event approvals for food, feed, processing and cultivation in the Philippines: alfalfa (2 events), rapeseed (2), cotton, corn (52), potato (8), rice (1), soybean (14) and sugar beet (1). (All photos were taken from the net)