Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology - Asian Productivity ...

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Why Agricultural Biotechnology?
protected cotton under Integrated Pest Management (IPM) regimes was recently assessed in field
trials in India (Table 4). Insect-protected cotton reduced damage due to bollworms with a reduction
in pesticide usage when compared to conventional cotton and delivered higher net returns
(Bambawale et al., 2004). Significant yield increases, combined with reductions in insecticide
sprays, were also found in a previous analysis of insect-protected cotton field trial data (Qaim
and Zilberman, 2003).
Table 4. Net Returns from Different Cotton Systems,
India
Net returns
System
(INR per ha)
Insect-protected cotton under IPM 16,231
Conventional under IPM 10,507
Conventional (non-IPM) 9440
Source: Adapted from Bambawale et al., 2004
In Australia, insect-protected cotton has been grown commercially since 1996, with
0.20M ha projected in 2004–05, much of which will have a combined herbicide tolerance trait
(James, 2004). Field studies have demonstrated that insect-protected cotton provided economic
and environmental benefits in the 2001–02 season. From an economic perspective, the average
yield was increased by 0.44 bales per ha (9.21 vs. 8.77), and 78% of paired plot comparisons
showed an economic benefit of growing insect-protected cotton (Doyle et al., 2002). In the same
study, insecticide sprays were reduced 64% when comparing insect-protected cotton with conventional
cotton (Doyle et al., 2002). Another study found only small differences in net economic
returns compared to conventional varieties (Fitt, 2003), but environmental benefits were
more dramatic. In the four years studied, pesticide spray applications targeting the major insect
pest, Helicoverpa species, were consistently reduced, ranging from 43% (1998/1999) to 57%
(1996–97), with a total reduction of 1.75 million liters of insecticide (Fitt, 2003). The environmental
benefits of insect-protected cotton are particularly profound since the products have been
used successfully in “environmentally sensitive areas near watercourses or townships where continued
use of conventional varieties may have entailed unacceptable community risks” (Fitt,
2003). Australia is now looking forward to taking advantage of second-generation insect-protected
cotton. The country has recently approved the commercial production of varieties that express
two different genes to control Lepidopteran insects, which should provide value from both
an efficacy as well as an insect resistance management perspective (U.S. EPA, 2002).
Insect-protected Maize
Insect-protected maize is grown commercially in North and South America, Europe, Africa,
and Asia. In 2002, the Philippines was the first Asian country to adopt insect-protected (Bt)
maize, with 52,000 ha planted in 2004 (James, 2004). The impact of the technology is being
assessed, and one such study was an ex ante analysis on the impacts of insect-protected maize.
The study was conducted based on field trial sites over two seasons (one wet and one dry). Calculated
production costs were lower and profitability higher using insect-protected maize (Gonzales,
2002). The analysis also determined that yields with insect-protected maize increased 40%
and 25% over those with non-insect-protected maize in both wet and dry seasons, respectively
(Gonzalez, 2002).
Herbicide-tolerant Crops
Herbicide-tolerant crops have had a major positive impact on agricultural practices. Worldwide,
72% of the total hectares planted to biotechnology crops were herbicide tolerant, and an
additional 9% of the hectares were herbicide tolerant combined with insect protection (James,