Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology - Asian Productivity ...

Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology Products in the Philippines
seeds, and perceived health and environmental hazards. As other corn transgenics enter the
country, adoption of a particular variety may depend on the cost-competitiveness of the seeds.
Gonzales (2004) recommends information/education campaigns, techno demos, and workshops
on integrated pest management, proactive financing to cover the cost of fertilizer and seeds, providing
the needed public and private investments in infrastructure and back-up services in strategic
corn-producing provinces, market-matching activities and linkages with the livestock-poultry
subsectors to increase the efficiency and global competitiveness of the feedgrain-livestockpoultry
industry cluster, and a sustained, ongoing system of evaluation and socio-economic
impact assessment of YieldGard and other transgenic technologies to help technology generators
and the public in strengthening the strategic position of Bt corn as the key result area in developing
a globally competitive feed corn-livestock industry cluster.
Table 5. Comparative Global Competitiveness (Import and Export Trade Scenario) of
Bt versus non-Bt Corn, 2003
Global competitiveness (RCRS)*
Performance ratio
Bt Non-Bt
(Bt/Non-Bt)
Trade
scenario
Low
yield a
High
yield b
Both
Low
yield
yield
levels
a
High
yield b
Both
Low
yield
yield
levels
a
High
yield b
Both
yield
levels
All provinces, wet season 2003
Import 0.35 0.22 0.26 0.47 0.29 0.35 0.74 0.76 0.76
Export 0.35 0.22 0.26 0.47 0.29 0.35 0.74 0.76 0.76
Only Isabela, dry season 2003–2004
Import 0.37 0.20 0.23 0.37 0.23 0.25 1.00 0.90 0.92
Export 1.47 0.93 1.01 1.44 1.02 1.08 1.02 0.91 0.93
a
yield 4mt/ha
*Resource Cost Ratio (RCRs) was used as indicator of global competitiveness. Globally
competitive if RCR < 1, neutral if RCR = 1, globally uncompetitive if RCR > 1.
Note: A performance ratio (Bt/Non-Bt) less than one implies that Bt corn is more globally
cost-competitive than non-Bt corn.
Source: Gonzalez, 2004; data from STRIVE Corn Survey, 2003–04
PRSV Papaya
Papaya is widely consumed in the Philippines, along with banana, pineapple, and mango.
As the world’s ninth-largest fresh papaya exporter, the Philippines enjoys a market share of
1.4% valued at USD1.8 million per year. Local cultivars/strains grown in-country are Solo,
Cavite Special, Legaspi Special, Morado, DMPI, and hybrid Sinta (Table 6). The cultivars Solo
and Sinta are mainly intended as dessert fruit for the export and domestic market, respectively.
DMPI is canned as tropical fruit cocktail. Major markets for Solo papaya are Japan, with a
comparative share of 74.10%, and Hongkong, with 21.46%. Other importers of Philippine fresh
papaya are Taiwan (0.91%), Singapore (0.71%), New Zealand (0.68%), Saudi Arabia (0.68%),
UAE (0.59%), South Korea (0.55%), China (0.18%), South Africa (0.10%), and others (0.05%).
Production ranged from 85,000 mt to 100,000 mt from 1990–2003. The area harvested grew
from 6,000 ha in 1990 to 9,000 ha in 2003. The yield increased minimally, from 14mt/ha in 1990
to 15mt/ha in 2003 (Payot, 2005; DA–NAFC–Philippine Genetics, Inc., 2002; National Papaya
R&D Committee, 2004). In general, papaya production, area harvested, and demand have been
increasing. Yield, however, increased only minimally, while export has been continuing but is
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