BIOTECHNOLOGY could result in more food grown on less land in a sustainable way, an agri-biotech expert believes.
Dr. Rhodora R. Aldemita, senior program officer of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), cited several impact studies indicating that the adoption of biotech corn, for example, has increased yields more than 18 percent from 2008 and has reduced insecticide "applications Ð a savings of $12-$15 per hectare."
A recent study also indicates that the net impact of biotech corn on farm profitability is $37 to $110 per hectare, said Aldamita, a former scientist with the Philippine Rice Research Institute.
These benefits were obtained on almost the same area of land and without encroaching into forest reserves, she said.
Genetic engineering, Aldemita said, can be used for improving yield, pest resistance, tolerance to adverse environmental conditions and quality. The technology allows direct transfer of important genes even between sexually incompatible species, producing improved and novel traits in genetically modified (GM) crops.
In the Philippines, biotechnology R&D started to be widely implemented in 1979 with the establishment of the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (BIOTECH) at the University of the Philippines Los Banos.
Since then, several public policies and programs have been established to promote the safe and responsible use of biotechnology tools and techniques. Public research institutions have since embarked on the application of biotechnology to help solve serious productivity and resiliency problems in agriculture, Aldamita said.
Agriculture needs to increase food production, she said, because there are one billion malnourished or hungry people worldwide. More so because the global population is projected to increase from 6.5 billion now to 8 billion by 2025 and 9.2 billion by 2050.
And yet, cultivable land per capita has shrunk from less than half a hectare (0.45 ha.) in 1966 to a lot less than that, 0.15 ha., Aldemita said.
On the other hand, it is imperative to produce more food that are also safe and nutritious without adversely affecting the natural resources and food production areas, Aldamita said during a regional workshop on understanding agriculture biotechnology held in Ilocos.
Among the biotechnology applications that can help produce more food are diagnostic and early detection tools for reducing losses caused by pests and diseases, she said.
Biotechnology tools also improve conventional breeding with the use of marker-aided selection that allows breeders to efficiently select the best breeding lines possessing important traits. (SciencePhilippines)