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Poor farmers use more GM crops
The use of biotech crops in 2007 have increased considerably in the
developing world, according to a report.
This is a report from the International Service for the Acquisition of
Agri-biotech Applications, which is an industry-supported non-profit service
that promotes the use of biotechnology to alleviate poverty and hunger around
the world.
More land will be devoted to genetically engineered foods, especially
rice, as scientists make advances and regulators approve new products, according
to the report. This has resulted that farmers in 12 developing countries planted
biotech crops in 2007, for the first time exceeding the number of industrialized
countries where such crops are grown.
US and Argentina dominate
US farms continued to dominate biotech agriculture with more than 142
million acres devoted to engineered crops, led by soy. The country also saw the
planting of biotech corn spike 40% over 2006 to nearly 20 million acres, driven
mainly by the demand for ethanol.
Argentina led developing countries with about 47.2 million acres in biotech
corn, soy and cotton. It was second only to the US in total acreage and followed
by Brazil, which had just over 37 million acres of biotech cotton and soy. India
grew 15.3 million acres of genetically engineered cotton in 2007, its only
biotech crop. Spain ranked highest among European countries with about 173,000
acres of genetically engineered corn but 12th overall, behind Paraguay, South
Africa, Uruguay and the Philippines.
Europe is resistant
European countries have been among the most resistant to genetically
engineered crops, where health and environmental concerns have long kept them
out of farmers' fields. According to the report, eight out of 27 European
countries planted biotech crops in 2007, up from six the previous year,
totalling about 260,000 acres.
Editor WorldPoultry
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