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Dopo la pausa che si è presa il governo indiano che sta ritardando la commercializzazione della melanzana Bt, le Filippine annnunciano il sorpasso e dal 2011 commercializzeranno le prime melanzane OGM. Si attendono aumenti di produzione del 100%, difficile che gli indiani mordano il freno ancora a lungo.

Philippines the First in Asia to Commercialize GM Eggplant

- Melody M. Aguiba, Manila Bulletin, June 28, 2010 http://www.mb.com.ph/

The Philippines will become the first in Asia to commercialize the genetically modified (GM) fruit and shoot borer (FSB)-resistant eggplant by 2011. This developed after the harvest of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplant, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in a trial site in Pangasinan.

“The performance is better than what we expected. We expect to have a considerable increase in yield for this field trial,” said Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project (ABSP) Director Frank A. Shotkoski in an interview in a harvest festival in Sta. Maria, Pangasinan.

Barring any unforeseen hindrance, the Institute of Biotechnology-University of the Philippines in Los Baños (IPB-UPLB) will release to the market Bt eggplant seeds by next year after an approval of the National Biosafety Committee (NCBP), according to ABSP Product Development Manager Desiree M. Hautea. Bt eggplant can arrest loss from FSB infestation, which reaches to 50 percent or higher. Average eggplant yield in the country is 9.95 metric tons per hectare.

It can substantially cut pesticide use, cut production cost for farmers, reduce their exposure to harmful chemicals, benefit consumers through lower price from higher eggplant production while protecting their health, and even enhancing environmental protection.
With a technology donated by the Mahyco of India, an Indian green and striped eggplant variety was crossed by the IPB with local varieties Dumaguete Long and Mara to produce the Filipino-desired color and size. “It took us long time from 2005 to develop a variety that has the 99.9 percent characteristic of our local variety. The technology was donated to us, but it’s really Filipino-developed,” she said. IPB will come up by 2011 with an open pollinated variety (OPV) for the Bt eggplant. This will enable resource-poor farmers to save the seeds after one planting for continued use in the next planting, bringing cost savings.
However, a hybrid Bt eggplant will be put to the market by IPB most likely in 2012 which will have the hybrid vigor that can produce 100 percent more yield than the OPV, although this will require farmers to buy the seeds each season.

Bt eggplant seeds’ commercial release will follow after another set of multilocational field trials for the dry season which starts perhaps in October this year. On top of the present sites’ Pangasinan, Bicol, and Los Baños - the Bt eggplant will also be pilot-planted in (Visayas) Leyte and Iloilo and (Mindanao) Kabacan, North Cotabato and Davao. IBP will initially produce the seeds through its National Seed Foundation. It may later enter into seed production deals with the Department of Agriculture or other State Universities and Colleges.

For the initial seeds marketing and eventual extensive commercial production, seed companies like East West or Syngenta may enter into a franchising or licensing agreement with IBP. No such deal has been completed so far, officials said. Eggplant is the most popular vegetable in the Philippines planted on 13 percent of the 600,000-hectare vegetable land, according to the World Vegetable Center

The Philippines can become the first to commercialize Bt eggplant next year as the Indian government has halted its commercial release due to lobbying from environmental groups. Bt eggplant will be the first GM vegetable to be released in the country.

Una interessante analisi che illustra gli scenari possibili se non avessimo fatto la rivoluzione verde e se decidessimo di non aumentare le rese per ettaro.
I dati mostrano come le emissioni di gas serra sono meno rilevanti se si persegue la via delle coltivazioni intensive…

Leggi l’articolo ghgs

Nel rapporto ISAAA relativo alle coltivazioni di OGM del 2009 ancora numeri da record.

Sono stati coltivati altri 9 milioni di ettari in più dell’anno precedente (l’intera superficie agricola italiana è di 13 milioni di ettari). Il 90% dei coltivatori di OGM appartiene a Paesi in via di sviluppo. Il Brasile diventa il secondo Stato che coltiva più OGM al mondo, facendo piazza pulita di chi ancora si illude di trovare angoli del pianteta dove avere commodity OGM-free. (leggi highisaaa2010 e isaaa2010)

Tutti questi dati sono una sottostima del successo degli OGM in quanto informazioni gia’ disponibili da mesi mostrano come Pakistan e Cuba dovrebbero già essere considerate nazioni che coltivano OGM.
Anche i dati del 2009 mostrano come l’Europa sia insignificante nelle sue scelte oscurantiste e autarchiche ed il mondo sia già andato in direzione opposta.

Con due semafori verdi in una settimana la Cina lancia una nuova stagione di coltivazione di OGM. L’attacco va diretto alla produzione di alimenti per consumo umano in particolare del riso. Al di là delle organizzazioni pseudo-ambientaliste il dato che ha convinto le autorità cinesi sta nell’aumento delle rese del 8% e l’abbattimento nell’uso di insetticidi dell’80%.
Con la politica di dismissione dell’agricoltura portata avanti da Zaia e Coldiretti, fra tre anni non ci saranno più coltivatori italiani ad arginare l’arrivo delle derrate cinesi da OGM.

China Approves Biotech Rice and Maize In Landmark Decision

- Clive James, Chair of ISAAA and author of the ISAAA Annual Brief on Biotech/GM Crops.

‘China completes its approval of a troika of key biotech crops - fiber (Bt cotton), feed (phytase maize) and food (Bt rice)’

In the ISAAA 2008 Brief, I predicted “a new wave of adoption of biotech crops–providing a seamless interface with the first wave of adoption, resulting in continued and broad-based strong growth in global hectarage”. This prediction started to become reality in the latter half of November 2009, when within the short span of one week, China’s Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) granted two biosafety certificates, and approved biotech Bt rice, (rice is the most important food crop in the world that feeds half of humanity), and biotech phytase maize, (maize is the most important feed crop in the world).

The two approvals have momentous positive implications for biotech crops in China, Asia and the whole world. It is important to note that the MOA conducted a very careful due diligence study, prior to clearing these two critically important biotech crops for full commercialization in about 2 to 3 years, pending completion of the standard registration field trials which applies to all new conventional and biotech crops. It is noteworthy that China has now completed approval of a troika of the key biotech crops in a logical chronology - first was FIBER (cotton), second was FEED (maize) and third was FOOD (rice). The potential benefits of these 3 crops for China are enormous and summarized below

* Bt cotton - China has successfully planted Bt cotton since 1997 and now over 7 million small farmers in China are already increasing their income by approx $220 per hectare (equivalent to $1 billion nationally) due, on average, to a 10% increase in yield, a 60% reduction in insecticides, both of which contribute to a more sustainable agriculture and prosperity of small poor farmers. China is the largest producer of cotton in the world, with 68% of its 5.6 million hectares successfully planted with Bt cotton in 2008
* Bt rice offers the potential to generate benefits of $4 billion annually from an average yield increase of 8 %, and a 80% decrease in insecticides, equivalent to 17 kg per hectare on China’s major staple food crop, rice, which occupies 30 million hectares (Jikun Huang et al, 2005). It is estimated that 75% of all rice in China is infested with the rice-borer pest, which Bt rice controls. China is the biggest producer of rice in the world (178 million tons of paddy) with 110 million rice households (a total of 440 million people based on 4 per family) who could benefit directly as farmers from this technology, as well as China’s 1.3 billion rice consumers. Bt rice will increase productivity of more affordable rice at the very time when China needs new technology to maintain self-sufficiency and increase food production to overcome drought, salinity, pests and other yield constraints associated with climate change and dropping water tables

* Phytase maize. China, after the US, is the second largest grower of maize in the world (30 million hectares grown by 100 million households); it is principally used for animal feed. Maintaining self-sufficiency in maize and meeting the increased demand for more meat in a more prosperous China is an enormous challenge. For example China’s swine herd, the biggest in the world, increased 100 fold from 5 million in 1968 to over 500 million today. Phytase maize will allow pigs to digest more phosphorus, resulting in faster growth/more efficient meat production, and coincidentally result in a reduction of phosphate pollution from animal waste into soil and extensive bodies of water and aquifers.

The above advantages of Bt cotton, Bt rice and phytase maize, (importantly, all developed by Chinese public sector institutions) also offer similar benefits to other developing countries, particularly in Asia, (but also elsewhere in the world) which have very similar crop production constraints. Asia grows and consumes 90 % of the production from the world’s 150 million hectares of rice, and Bt rice can have enormous impact in Asia. It could not only contribute to increase productivity but could also make a substantive contribution to the alleviation of poverty for poor small farmers who represent 50% of the world’s poor.

Similarly, there are up to 50 million hectares of maize in Asia that could benefit from biotech maize. China’s exertion of global leadership in approving biotech rice and maize will likely result in a positive influence on acceptance and speed of adoption of biotech food and feed crops in Asia, and more generally globally, particularly in developing countries . The approval and deployment by China of the most important food and feed crops in the world, biotech rice and maize, to maintain “self-sufficiency” as opposed to “food security”, (the distinction is important) can serve as a model for other developing countries which could have substantive implications for:

* a more timely and efficient approval process for biotech crops in developing countries;
* new modes of South-South technology transfer and sharing, including public/private sector partnerships;
* more orderly international trade in rice and reduction in probability of recurrence of 2008-type price hikes, which were devastating for the poor;
* shift of more authority and responsibility to developing countries to optimize “self sufficiency” and provide more incentive for their involvement to deliver their share of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals.

Finally, Bt rice and phytase maize should be seen as only the first of many agronomic and quality biotech traits to be integrated into improved biotech crops, with significant enhanced yield and quality, which can contribute to the doubling of food, feed and fiber production on less resources, particularly water and nitrogen, by 2050.The approval by China of the first major biotech food crop, Bt rice, can be the unique global catalyst for both the public and private sectors from developing and industrial countries to work together in a global initiative toward the noble goal of “food for all and self sufficiency” in a more just society.

NOTE # of avian species in 1968 was 12.3 million, in 2005 13 billion !!!
# of Pigs in China, 508 million, is approx half of world swine herd at about 1 billion

Le stesse persone che combattono l’HIV, cancro e la malnutrizione vivono come una autoflagellazione l’opposizione agli OGM che sempre più si dimostra come una oculata scelta che maschera interessi economici.

Se le proiezioni restano stabili il 2010 potrebbe essere l’anno in cui il 10% di tutte le coltivazioni mondiali deriveranno da OGM. In 14 anni una tecnologia che ha avuto troppo successo e si è diffusa su tutto il pianeta non poteva non infastidire coloro che contavano su nicchie personali e locali. Pensate per un attimo quanto tempo ci hanno messo le automobili o i telefoni cellulari a diventare il 10% del mercato dei trasporti o della comunicazione…

Leggi articolo sul Forum Barilla