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26 BIO LIFE January – March 2005 Agricultural biotechno By ISKHO F. LOPEZ FOOD SECURITY concerns the availability of food in a community and having sufficient supply. The community either produces the food or buys from outside the community. Food production depends on the level of skills and on what is provided by natural resources. Should the community prove to be inadequate in producing food and its natural resources are scarce, and at the same time it is unable to afford food from outside, then food security is expectedly low. In places where natural resources are abundant, the community needs to develop the proper food production skills in order to make the most of what its natural resources can offer. And therein lies the challenge to productivity. Developing food production skills involve transfer of technology or the use of scientific or other organized knowledge and its application to practical tasks in order to improve or enhance food productivity. Where such technology reduces reliance on skills, the result would be an increase in food security. As it has been proven, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) help increase food security, and an example would be the stalk borerresistant maize. The Philippine government has adopted a policy to promote the safe and responsible use of biotechnology as one of the means to achieve food security, according to Dr. Saturnina Halos, Senior Project Development Adviser of the Bureau of Agricultural Research of the Department of Agriculture. “As a developing country, the Philippines has a large proportion (40percent) of its population dependent on agriculture,” explains Halos. She points out that individual farms in the Philippines are relatively small with the average size being about 1.5 hectares. Such farms usually support a family of 6- 12 persons. These farms would have variable soil fertility, and some would contain problem minerals. Rainfall in these places would be variable and access to markets, while easy for some, would be difficult for many others. Providing a sketchy profile of Filipino farmers, Halos says these farmers’ Benjo 04
January – March 2005 BIO LIFE 27 logy and food security schooling ranges from two to 20 years, with many of the poor having at most four years of primary education. “In short, conditions are so variable,” says Halos. “It is folly to provide a single solution to problems of low productivity which, in general, characterize Philippine agriculture. Hence, we believe that biotechnology is only one of the technological means to increase incomes.” She cites as an example the organic produce market, where products are priced about twice as much as the nonorganic ones. “Depending upon market conditions, income increases can be achieved by targeting a niche market,” she continues. “This market is limited to the higher-income bracket (5 percent of the Philippine population) and accessible to farmers mainly around urban centers.” Organic farming incurs higher production cost and lower yields due to insect pests and diseases, which today are not reliably controlled by organic means. Halos likewise underscores that there is lower efficiency in organic farming owing to these factors. “Besides, tropical conditions breed so many insect pests and diseases,” she says. Another means to increase incomes is to increase yields per unit area. A dramatic example is the use of hybrid corn compared with traditional varieties introduced by the Spaniards centuries ago. Hybrid corn yields range from 3-9 tons/ha whereas traditional corn varieties yield 0.3- 2 tons/ha. On the other hand, income increases can be achieved by preventing losses mainly from pests and diseases. These losses range from 35-100 percent. In corn, reports on yield losses due to the insect Asiatic corn borer range from 5-95 percent. Currently, farmers control this insect with a chemical pesticide applied by hand into individual plants. This chemical can cause nausea and vomiting among the applicators, death to farm animals, and can kill any insect species that encounters it. Moreover, for the chemical to be effective, it must be applied at a particular time within a short period during corn growth. “Farmers are therefore looking for a better solution to the borer problem,” continues Halos. Multi-location trials conducted with the genetically modified Bt corn have conclusively shown that the borer cannot thrive on Bt corn and yield gains averaged 40 percent. Bt corn is genetically modified to include a toxinproducing gene from a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, which poisons insects feeding on the plant. “For this reason, planting Bt corn has become attractive to many farmers who don’t mind paying for the seeds because they beleive that their increase in yields will compensate for the additional seed cost,” says The increasing hectarage of GM crops (from 1.6 million in 1996 to some 50 million the past few years) implies that an increasing number of farmers see more benefits from planting these crops. Halos. “If provided credit, they will buy good seeds and, once they enjoy the benefits of assured higher yields, they would rather buy good seeds and reject seeds of dubious quality even if provided free.” The increasing hectarage of GM crops (from 1.6 million in 1996 to some 50 million the past few years) implies that an increasing number of farmers see more benefits from planting these crops. Reports from South Africa and China show that small farmers benefit more from the technology than corporate farmers. “I agree that biotechnology research in developing countries should focus on solving technical problems of each country’s agriculture,” says Halos. “In addition, research should also address biosafety issues including setting up the necessary infrastructure to comply with biosafety regulations. That is, when a country decides to invest in biotechnology research it should also establish biosafety regulations. In this manner, issues raised against biotechnology are scientifically addressed. Although this raises the cost of the technology, it does provide assurance to the public that proper measures are adopted to ensure that biotech products are safe.” According to Halos, the Philippines has adopted biosafety regulations covering biotechnology research since 1991 and has recently established regulations covering the import, commercialization and release into the environment of biotech plant and plant products. These regulations define the biosafety research agenda in developing a biotech crop. Halos also cites research on edible vaccines for humans as well as animals. “The development of edible vaccines is undertaken primarily by researchers in industrialized countries, supposedly for developing countries,” she explains. “To hasten this development, it is about time that we in the developing world actively participate in developing the effective edible vaccine for our own country needs.” Dependence on agricultural products makes Asian needs unique to the region when compared to the more developed countries in the western hemisphere. China is keen about adapting the use of Bt crops just as India is moving towards its utilization and other Asian countries are carefully watching and looking forward to its use. The continuing research and development of agricultural biotechnology is in preparation for the challenge of food security in the future. (Dr. Saturnina Halos provides advice to the Philippine Department of Agriculture on biotechnology for agricultural development. She was trained as a plant breeder and geneticist and has been doing research in biotechnology for years. Using public funds, Dr. Halos and her husband have invented and are developing the market for a microbial preparation—a seed inoculant—that improves plant growth and yield and reduces fertilizer requirements. She’s also doing research using DNA analysis.)
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