U.N.
Report Favors Global Use of Biotech Crops, NCGA Notes (6-2-04)
Agriculture will have
to sustain an additional 2 billion people over the next 30 years,
reconfirming the National Corn Growers Association’s (NCGA)
assertions that biotechnology will play an important role in meeting
future needs. In its annual report, “The State of Food and
Agriculture 2003-04,” the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) noted biotechnology holds great promise, but
more research is needed in crops of importance to the developing
world.
“The FAO report
highlights the role biotechnology will play in the future and the
benefits gained by farmers in developed and developing countries
alike,” said NCGA Biotechnology Working Group Chair Helen
Inman. “With 46 percent of this year’s corn crop being
planted to biotech hybrids, corn growers fully understand the benefits
biotechnology holds to increase income and better manage our fragile
natural resources.”
The report noted that
where transgenic crops have been introduced, small farmers have
gained economically and the use of chemicals has been reduced. In
addition, while agriculture biotechnology is mostly delivered through
the private sector, the benefits have been widely distributed. For
example, cotton farmers in China reduced pesticide use by an estimated
78,000 tons in 2001, equal to one-quarter of all chemical pesticides
used that year.
The report notes that
six countries and four crops account for nearly all the global area
planted to agriculture biotechnology in 2003. “In order for
biotechnology to succeed, farmers in developing countries need access
to the technology just the same as we do,” continued Inman.
“Unfortunately, the European Union (EU) and non-governmental
organizations like Greenpeace are spreading a message of fear that
makes it harder for developing countries to reap the benefits under
threat of trade boycotts and protests.”
Since 1998, the EU has
imposed a de facto moratorium on the approval of products derived
from biotechnology. While the European Commission approved one product,
Bt11, last month, the approval process is still not commercially
significant, Inman said. Additionally, recently imposed traceability
and labeling requirements, will have the net effect of continuing
to unduly and illegally restrict commodity and food trade with Europe.
“The European Union
should stop efforts to prevent the development and spread of biotechnology
to developing countries and farmers around the world. Biotechnology
and conventional crop varieties can co-exist. Farmers need the ability
to use all available tools in order to produce a safe and abundant
food supply for a hungry world,” Inman said.
The report is available
at
http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/Y5160E/Y5160E00.HTM.