Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology - Asian Productivity ...

Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology Products
and Batiquin and Cruz (2004). This section discusses the competitiveness of modern agri-biotech
products using two cases: Bt corn produced by Monsanto, a private multinational company,
imported by the Philippines since 2002 for direct use as food and feed, and transgenic PRSV
papaya, still in the testing stage, for which work began in 1997.
Bt Corn
After rice and coconut, corn is one of the major commodities produced in the Philippines
both for food and livestock feed. Corn production has been erratic. A decrease in area devoted to
corn production coupled with an increased demand from the livestock sector has prompted the
government to import additional supplies. Feed comprises around 70% of the cost of raising
chickens and hogs, and about 2.5M mt goes to feed production annually.
The Asiatic corn borer (ACB) is the most destructive of the insects that attack corn plants.
Losses due to ACB have been reported to be as high as 80% (Rejesus and Javier, 1985); damage
can vary depending on the season and time of planting. The common control method is through
the use of chemicals. Nonchemical methods such as detasselling and biological control (through
the use of Trichogramma) have been ineffective.
Bt corn is an alternative to chemical sprays for controlling ACB throughout the growing
period. It has been adopted by the U.S. South Africa, and other countries from which the Philippines
imports corn. The government approved the propagation of Bt corn and its importation for
direct use in December 2002, after almost six years of trials and safety evaluations. The
Philippines is the first country in Asia to commercialize Bt corn. From an initial 126 hectares in
2002, the total area planted to genetically-modified Bt corn in 2005 is projected to be 100,000 ha
(Table 4). Although Bt corn seeds were originally imported, Monsanto is now operating a seed
production plant in southern Philippines. The commercialization of Bt corn (Monsanto’s
Yieldguard 818 and 838) has caused some controversy, for example, with respect to biosafety,
health risks, local farmers’ competitiveness, and relative economic advantage of Bt over non-Bt
corn.
Table 4. Area Planted to Bt Corn, Philippines
Year Area planted (ha)
2002 126
2003 24,000
2004 54,688
2005 (projected) 100,000
Source: del Rosario, 2004; Philippines
Today, 2005
Two studies (Gonzales, 2004; Yorobe et al., 2004) have reported the superiority of Bt corn
over non-Bt corn. Gonzales (2004) compared performance of Yieldguard corn with ordinary
hybrid corn, covering two seasons and at least five corn-producing provinces during the initial
phase of Bt commercialization using five impact indicators of global cost competitiveness under
import substitution and export trade: yield, farm production cost, net farm income (profit), subsistence
level carrying capacity ratio, and resource cost ratios. The study estimated that under an
import substitution scenario, YieldGard corn production was more cost-competitive by 17% than
ordinary hybrid corn production. Likewise, under an export trade scenario, YieldGard production
had a global cost-competitive edge over non-Bt corn production of 16%. At high yield
levels of 5 mt/ha, YieldGard corn production, as reflected in the analysis, can be globally costcompetitive
as an export (Table 5).
Despite the bright prospect for transgenic corn demonstrated in this study, Yieldguard corn
adoption faces constraints: lack of information on how or where to access Bt corn seeds, lack of
technical knowledge on how to maximize the benefits from transgenic corn, high cost of Bt corn
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