BT breaks agri myth

With BT corn, my harvest grew from 3.5 tons per hectare to seven tons per hectare.

When the commercial propagation of the so-called Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) corn was still in its infancy in the early 2000, Iloilo rice farmer Lorenzo Provido received corn seedlings from the Department of Agriculture (DA). He wanted to try it, but was hesitant as he didn’t know what will happen in introducing a very new technology in his farm lot that was not suitable for growing corn.

“Corn in our municipality has always had a problem with corn borers,” he said. But the promise of pest-free production finally pushed him to decide to try it.

He said the expenses for planting was very minimal, especially since he adopted zero-tillage cultivation, a farming technique that requires minimal soil disturbance. “We just sprayed the field that was filled with grasses with herbicide and when the grasses died, we planted BT corn,” he said.

True enough, the harvest was good with no pest infestation on his corn. His harvest at that time was even higher as there was no incidence of theft on his farm, especially since the community knew he was growing BT corn, which many believed was harmful to humans as what those opposing biotechnology were projecting.

Since then, he said, he has been planting BT corn like what most upland farmers in northern Iloilo are doing.

Provido is one of the 21 graduates of the three-day Visayas Cluster Farmers IEC Training on 21 November held in Tacloban City that was organized by the DA and the Asian Farmers Regional Network (Asfarnet), a group pushing for the application of biotechnology in agriculture.

Edwin Paraluman, Asia coordinator of Asfarnet and a farmer from General Santos City, said the training aims to capacitate farmer leaders on biotechnology communication, so that they will be able to articulate the products, science, safety and its potential benefits in their respective areas.

The participants were farmer leaders from the different provinces of the three regions in the Visayas, as well as members of Asfarnet.

Francis Rosaroso, chief of the DA regional agriculture and fisheries information service in Eastern Visayas, said the training was timely especially since debates will be imminent as the agency will soon be introducing to the public Golden Rice, a genetically modified rice variety.

Asfarnet’s Paraluman, who himself was among those who participated in the BT corn testing, attests to the advantages of biotechnology.

“With BT corn, my harvest grew from 3.5 tons per hectare to seven tons per hectare. In BT corn, you will not see even one kernel that is damaged. But in conventional corn, only those planted where a strong wind passes can you get a good harvest, all the rest are infested with corn borers,” he said.

Paraluman believes that genetically-engineered crops like BT corn, BT eggplant and the soon-to-be commercially released Golden Rice are safe to eat.

“We have very stringent regulations before these are approved for commercial propagation,” he added.

The Philippines is among the first countries in Asia to recognize the value of biotechnology when it established the National Institute of Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology (BIOTECH) at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños in 1980.

However, it was only in 2002 when BT corn, a product of giant multinational company Monsanto, was commercially introduced. It was the first genetically engineered crop to be commercialized.

From the testing stage until its commercial release, BT corn was subject to acrimonious debates between supporters and those opposing biotechnology, with some sectors of the Catholic Church putting its weight on the debate to oppose it.

“Biotechnology is the way forward for the next generation. If we will not do this and the population worldwide keeps on increasing, there will be widespread hunger,” says Rosaroso, who is the spokesman of the DA regional office in Eastern Visayas.

He said the country is having tremendous growth in population wherein two million people are added to the head count every year. “We cannot afford to lie down doing nothing. Biotechnology is a science-based technology, and the debate over the perceived harmful effects have been resolved,” he said.

“DA will not be supporting a program like this if it does not believe that biotechnology is a good option for our farmers,” Rosaroso added.

Aside from BT corn, currently in the pipeline for commercial propagation are BT cotton, BT eggplant and BT rice, more commonly referred to as Golden Rice.

With the anticipated approval of the government for the commercial propagation of Golden Rice either by next month or in the first quarter of 2020, Paraluman said biotechnology advocates are expecting a resurgence of heated debates with those who are against it.

He said the newly trained farmer-leaders from the different provinces will be at the forefront and will be able to satisfactorily explain the issue to the farmers.

“BT rice has undergone a very stringent process, but even at the trial stage it has been heavily criticized by the anti group. We will be persistent to pursue this project because vitamin A deficiency in the country is widespread,” he said.

The beta-carotene-enriched Golden Rice is being developed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute, with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through a grant to the International Rice Research Institute.