Philippines top GM grower in Southeast Asia
ISAAA’s chair of the board of Trustees, Dr. Paul Teng, during a media conference on the global status of commercialized GM crops in 2016 at the Acacia Hotel, Alabang, Muntinlupa City, said the country reached a total of 812,000 hectares of biotech or GM corn planted here in 2016, a significant increase of 16 percent from the 702,000 hectares were grown in 2015.
In a global scale, a total of 185.1 million hectares of biotech or GM crops were planted in 26 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North and Latin America in 2016.
GM corn, being the lone biotech crop allowed there, has been planted since 2003 after its approval for commercialization in 2002. According to the report, the farm level economic benefit of planting biotech or GM corn in the country from 2003 to 2015 is estimated to have reached $642 million, and for 2015 alone, the net national impact of biotech or GM crop on farm income was estimated at $82 million.
source: sunstar.com.ph
