Philippines urged to adopt high-value GM crops

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines should expand its adoption of genetically modified (GM) crops to strengthen the agriculture sector, particularly by introducing bio-engineered high-value crops that can resist pests and diseases, improve yield and enhance the country’s export potential.

This is according to Rhodora Romero-Aldemita, the executive director of the non-profit organization International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications Inc. (ISAAA), who said crops such as avocado, banana, and pineapple are strong candidates for biotechnology development.

She noted that these high-value crops could play a vital role in strengthening the country’s farm economy and boosting its share in global trade.

“Banana is one of the export earners of the Philippines, and it is always affected by virus diseases, bacterial blight and fungal diseases as well. So, disease-resistant bananas are very important because we export a lot of bananas,” she said during an ISAAA-organized workshop at the Sheraton Manila Bay yesterday.

“We export also a lot of pineapples. So, high-value crops, exportable crops which will earn money for our country would be very good,” she added.

She noted that the Philippines can access existing GM varieties already commercialized overseas through material transfer agreements, then test and adapt them to local conditions.

“We don’t have to start from scratch. What we need is to make sure these crops are resistant, high-yielding, and suitable to our environment,” Romero-Aldemita said.

Despite scientific progress, the wider adoption of GM crops in the country has been slowed by lingering court cases and shifting policy directions.

“There are court cases that are still there, and we’re still waiting for them to give the final verdict so that we can continue on with the research, with the deployment of seeds so that farmers can have that,” she said.

“And we also believe that political will would provide positive impact as well, just like in Myanmar and Bangladesh, where even the governments are the ones pushing for farmers to plant,” she added.

According to ISAAA, the Philippines has so far planted GM crops – including corn, rice, eggplant and cotton– on about 709,000 hectares, much smaller than India’s 11.9 million hectares or China’s 3.5 million.

Even so, it ranks among nine Asia-Pacific countries tracked by the non-profit group, with Australia planting 2.2 million hectares of GM crops, Pakistan 1.9 million and Myanmar 150,000.

By comparison, Indonesia has 13,300 hectares while Bangladesh has only 2,786 hectares.