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THE
current skyrocketing cost of rice, agricultural crops and
other basic commodities are expected to spark spirited
debate on the issue of genetically modified organisms (GMOs),
touted as a means to help in the worsening problem of
hunger, poverty and malnutrition being experienced
worldwide.
In the
Philippines, anti-GMO advocate Greenpeace warned the
government from using the ongoing rice crisis as an excuse
to set aside existing regulations of the government
regarding GMOs, saying there are other sources of GMO-free
rice.
Biotechnology advocates, led by the Biotechnology
Coalition of the Philippines (BCP), a broad alliance of
scientists, academicians and NGO workers, support the use
of biotechnology in agriculture to ensure food security.
The BCP
believes the government has the most stringent regulation
to ensure that the GMOs being allowed entry in the
Philippines, whether for food, feed or processing, are
safe for human consumption, as well as the environment.
Agriculture officials believe that biotechnology is the
key for the country’s survival during these trying times
when the country is faced with problems, such as poor food
production owing to unfavorable and extreme weather
conditions—such as drought and super typhoons because of
climate change, which is severely affecting the Philippine
agriculture.
Director
Alice Ilaga of the Department of Agriculture Biotechnology
Program Office (DA-BPO) said there’s economic opportunity
in biotechnology.
Ilaga has
been going around remote areas in the country to promote
farming for natural ingredients, such as the lowly
malunggay, touted as the miracle tree.
Farming
for natural ingredients is one of two directions
identified in the DA’s Biotechnology Road map which was
developed by biotechnology experts the DA commissioned for
the purpose. The other
being strengthening the country’s traditional agri-fishery
products through modern biotechnology.
Government
scientists are developing superior crops using
biotechnology, including recombinant DNA technology or
genetic engineering.
Currently
in the pipeline are pest-resistant eggplants, a variety
induced with the soil bacterium Bacillus thriengensis,
which is now in the controlled field trial stage in Bay,
Laguna.
There is
also the virus-resistant papaya and papaya with delayed
ripening trait. Scientists are also working on the
multivirus-resistant tomato. All of these aim to increase
food production.
In
December 2002, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) approved
for commercialization the first genetically engineered
crop in the country—the Bt corn.
This was
followed by another corn seed technology, the Roundup
Ready (RR) corn, a corn variety that was genetically
engineered to survive herbicide. It is now being used by
farmers in the upland areas, particularly in Iloilo, and
has been credited for the growth of the corn sector in the
province.
Dr.
Saturnina Halos, the top biotechnology expert of the DA,
insists that agricultural biotechnology is the key to
modernizing agriculture, saying it is only
through gene-splicing technique that scientists can come
up with superior crops to ensure food security.
Halos, who
calls herself a “biotech entrepreneur” having developed
and commercialized Vital-N, a biofertilizer which improves
the growth and resistance of rice and corn, and ensuring
increased yield, said since the Bt corn and RR corn were
released commercially, there has been no report of its
adverse effect both to animals and the environment. Bt
corn and RR corn are currently being used for animal
feedstock.
A group of
corn farmers, the Philippine Maize Federation, attested to
the significant change in their lives after using
genetically engineered corn, noting that besides the
increase in yield from 3.5 tons to as high as 8 tons to 10
tons per hectare, they no longer spend for the expensive
pesticide to get rid of the dreaded Asian corn borer,
which used to cut their production to half when using
regular or even hybrid corn.
Among the
current highlights of the GMO research in the country are
the Philippine Rice Research Institute and the
International Rice Research Institute project on the
“Golden Rice.”
Through
genetically engineered rice, they intend to increase the
beta-carotene content of the staple for increased vitamin
A. This, in particular, aims to solve the growing problem
of malnutrition suffered by millions of women and children
in the
Philippines.
Besides
fortifying the staple with vitamins and micronutrients,
scientists are developing genetically improved rice
varieties to increase yield and resist drought or flood,
thus ensuring bountiful harvest all year round.
Greenpeace, however, insists that GMOs are not the
solution to the current rice crisis.
Its call
came at the launch of a landmark United Nations (UN) and
World Bank-funded report, the very first assessment of
global agriculture that recommends the replacement of
destructive chemical-intensive agriculture with methods
that work with nature not against it.
The
International Assessment of Agricultural Science and
Technology for Development (IAASTD) said, “Continuing with
current trends in production and distribution would
exhaust our resources and put our children’s future in
jeopardy.”
The
report, drawn up by about 400 international experts at the
behest of the World Bank and the UN food agency, called
for a “more holistic view of agriculture.”
“And the
increasingly globalized food market and ever-increasing
food imports mean that no country can assume itself to be
immune to the implications,” it added.
“Although
considered by many to be a success story, the benefits of
productivity increases in world agriculture are unevenly
spread,” it further said.
Although
the report made no mention of modern biotechnology or GMOs,
Greenpeace said in a statement: “Some 60 governments,
meeting in Johannesburg since last week, have signed the
IAASTD’s final report expected to guide agricultural and
food production in the coming decades. The report says
industrial agriculture has failed and that GMOs are not
the solution to poverty, hunger or climate change.”
Greenpeace
said the recommendations of the UN report are especially
significant as it clearly shows the failure of past and
present government-initiated programs to boost rice
production through agriculture highly dependent on costly
toxic chemical inputs as well as corporate-owned seeds,
such as GMOs and hybrid seeds.
It said
the UN IAASTD report is highly critical of GMOs, calling
instead for a fundamental change in farming practices, in
order to address soaring food prices, hunger, social
inequities and environmental disasters.
Greenpeace
maintains that the Philippine government’s plans to
increase fertilizer subsidies and its support of GMO crops
are unsound farming practices that would endanger, rather
than improve, the country’s agricultural sector.
“By using
these methods, the government is actually compounding the
food problem, not solving it,” said Daniel Ocampo,
Greenpeace’s campaigner. | 
