The Hindu Business Line : ‘India has fifth largest area under GM crops’

According to worldwide data compiled by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), the total acreage planted under all GM crops amounted to 114.3 million hectares (mh) in 2007.

Of this, over half or 57.7 mh was accounted for by the US, followed by Argentina (19.1 mh), Brazil (15 mh), Canada (seven mh), and India (6.2 mh).

Significantly, the GM coverage in India is almost twice that of China (3.8 mh). Paraguay (2.6 mh) and South Africa (1.8 mh) are the only other countries, with area in excess of one mh.

“In 1996, farmers globally grew barely 1.7 mh under biotech crops, whereas that has now touched 114.3 mh. We now have 23 countries cultivating GM crops, of which there are eight that have acreage exceeding one mh,” the ISAAA Chairman, Dr Clive James, told presspersons, presenting the “Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM Crops: 2007” report here on Monday.

Interestingly, not a single European country figures in the top-eight list. The country in Europe with maximum coverage is Spain (0.1 mh).

In both India as well as China, the entire GM area is under a single crop – cotton. In fact, the 6.2 mh under GM cotton in India represents two-thirds of the total 9.4 mh under the crop, “a remarkable achievement in a period of just six years”, Dr James said.

Of the total 114.3 mh global GM area, 58.6 mh was devoted to transgenic soyabean.

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