VATIS UPDATE Article

According to estimates by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), global acceptance of genetically modified (GM) crops sprang back in 2016 after suffering a decline in 2015. According to ISAAA, 185.10 million hectares of GM crops were planted in 2016, showing an increase from 179.70 million hectares in 2015. In 2014, the global area under GM crops was 181.50 million hectares.

These numbers come from 26 countries, 19 of which are developing countries. The top five countries growing GM crops are the US (72.90 million hectares), Brazil (49.10 million hectares), Argentina (23.80 million hectares), Canada (11.60 million hectares), and India (10.80 million hectares) – totalling 91% of the global area under GM. Soybean accounted for 50% of the global area under GM crops in 2016.

It was followed by maize (33%), cotton (12%), and canola (5%). Other GM crops available in the market today include sugar beet, papaya, squash, aubergine and potato. ISAAA estimates that biotech crop planting increased 110-fold in the 1996-2016 decade, with an accumulated area of 2.1 billion hectares. As the “fastest adopted crop technology in recent times”, biotechnology has helped alleviate poverty and hunger, benefiting 18 million small farmers and their families.