Critics of Biotech Crops Proved Wrong

Critics of agricultural biotechnology have long maintained that the technology is unsuitable for small-scale farmers and harmful to the environment. But according to newly-released adoption rates, evidence is pointing in the opposite direction.

In its latest report, Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM Crops: 2011, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) shows that biotechnology crops now cover 160 million hectares worldwide.

Of the 16.7 million people who grew transgenic crops in 2011, 15 million or 90 per cent were small resource-poor farmers in developing countries. Early critics of biotechnology contended that biotechnology crops would only benefit large-scale farmers in industrial countries.

But emerging evidence shows that nearly half of biotechnology crops were grown in developing countries. The adoption rate of biotechnology crops was 11 per cent in developing countries against five per cent in industrialised countries. According to the report, over the 1996–2010 period, "cumulative economic benefits were the same for developing and developed countries ($39 billion). For 2010 alone, economic benefits for developing countries were higher at $7.7 billion compared with $6.3 billion for developed countries."

These adoption rates and societal impacts are reminiscent of the transformational impact of mobile phones.

The rapid adoption of mobile phones in development is heralded as one of the most dramatic examples of the spread of new technology in developing countries. The early days of the adoption of mobile phones were marked by concerns over their implications for the incumbent fixed phone industry. It was argued then that mobile phones would be beyond the reach of the poor.

Indeed, in the early days mobile phones were available only to a small section of society. Today the platforms are creating new industries and services across many sectors such as banking, education, health, and democracy.

At the beginning it appeared that the benefits of mobile phones would be restricted to urban areas. Some of the most dramatic benefits of mobile technology are likely to be in agriculture.

ISAAA's announcement that the adoption of transgenic crops continues to expand at eight per cent per year is a signal of the transformational impact that genomics have on agriculture.

At this rate transgenic crops have recorded the fastest adoption rate of any technology in the history of modern agriculture. This adoption rate is faster than many other documented cases.

One of the most controversial aspects of agricultural biotechnology has been its potential environmental impact.

The concerns have generated considered debates and spawned new international rules aimed at curtaining its diffusion.

The global community was right to be concerned, especially in light of prior agricultural practices that were evidently harmful to the environment. But many of its champions were wrong to assume from the outset the risks of the technology were likely to outweigh its benefits. Emerging evidence runs counter to those fears.

Over the 1996–2010 period, biotechnology crops have reduced 443 million kilogrammes of pesticide use.

This did not only reduce the spraying of chemicals that destroyed biological diversity, but they also cut down harmful exposure by farmers.