February 28, 2012
Vietnam mulls planting GM corn
Vietnam''s field trials for Bt corn were a success in terms of productivity, with an increase of 30-40% compared to control plots, said Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, deputy director of the Vietnam Agricultural Genetics Institute.
"Biotech corn produces higher quality corn and is resistant to stem borers," said Thuy.
Though results of field trials were promising, GM corn has not yet been commercialised in the country as it is still waiting for government approval.
Biotech corn imported from Syngenta and Dekal companies is currently used as animal feed in Vietnam.
Professor Vo Tong Xuan, a member of International Service for the Acquisition on Agriculture Application (ISAAA), said Vietnam had to import between 1-1.5 million tonnes of Bt corn annually for animal feed, accounting for about 80% of the raw materials in its production.
"This is a disadvantage for Vietnamese farmers due to the prohibition of growing biotech Bt corn," said Xuan.
He estimated that by 2020, Vietnam would need some 50 million tonnes of cereals to feed its people. And by 2050 the figure would jump to 80 million tonnes while agricultural land was getting smaller.
Nguyen Tri Ngoc, general director of the Crop Production Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said some one million hectares had been planted with corn in Vietnam, yet low productivity meant Vietnam had to import 1-1.5 million tonnes of corn each year.
"If cultivation of Bt corn is allowed, we will not have to import such a large volume of corn for animal feed production," said Ngoc.
At present, relevant agencies were speeding up their approval process for the commercialisation of Bt corn, he said.
"After corn, we''ll conduct field trials on cotton and soy. Hopefully these two plants will be commercialised in 2013-14," said Ngoc.