A FORMER agriculture secretary and head of a global research facility on Thursday said the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling against the field testing, importation and commercialization of genetically modified (GM) crops is a major setback to agricultural development in the Philippines.
Dr. William Dar, currently president of the InangLupa movement and former director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) in India, said the High Court’s ruling could “significantly” affect the Philippines’s agricultural research and development efforts, and its economy.
“The recent decision of the Supreme Court to ban the field-testing of Bt [Bacillus Thuringiensis] eggplant and nullifying a related Department of Agriculture [DA] administrative order [AO] is a huge setback in our continuing quest to produce adequate, affordable, safer and nutritious food for millions of Filipinos,” Dar said.
The SC last month permanently stopped the field testing of Bt eggplant and declared null and void the DA’s AO 8, Series of 2002, which provides the rules and regulations for the importation and release into the environment of plants and plant products derived from the use of modern biotechnology.
Dar said continuing the ban on the field testing of Bt crops could lead the Philippines to experience a “brain drain” of its experts and lose economic opportunities.
He said that experts like Robert Goldberg, a renowned plant molecular biologist at the University of California in Los Angeles, said GM crops go through rigorous tests, and in the event of a health threat, can be quickly identified and eliminated since the gene can be tracked, including the activity of every single gene around it.
The economic benefits of commercializing GM crops should also be considered by the SC, Dar said.
He said GM varieties not only increase yield, but also remove the need to use chemicals for cultivation.
About 20-percent to 30-percent improvements in yield were noted for Bt corn, Bt cotton and Bt soya, translating to more profit for farmers, he added, quoting agricultural and environmental economist David Zilberman.
“The adoption of Bt eggplant would mean more income for poor Filipino farmers and more affordable eggplant for the consumers,” he said.
Dar said there is a need to produce more affordable and nutritious food for Filipino families as the country’s population continues to grow. However, dwindling land and water resources, as well as climate change, exacerbate the situation.
“We have to rely on GM crops found to produce more yields and can withstand various production risks, like low and high temperatures, insects and diseases,” he said.
The corn sector in the Philippines, in particular, could suffer losses because of the SC ruling, he said.
Philippine Maize Federation Inc. President Roger V. Navarro earlier said hog raisers, poultry growers, corn farmers and feed millers could lose billions of pesos due to the Court’s decision.
“The decision of the SC has a huge economic impact. For one, the corn industry’s [output is valued at] about P90 billion, [output of] the livestock and poultry subsectors is around P700 billion. Losses could reach a trillion pesos if you include logistics and opportunity loss,” Navarro said.