Global biotech crops up 13% in 2006, driven partly by biofuel

There was a 13% growth in the amount of bioengineered crops worldwide in 2006, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).

Growth for the period 1996 to 2006 is equivalent to an unprecedented 60-fold increase, the highest adoption rate of any crop technology, the group said. Additionally, the number of farmers planting biotech crops surged past 10 million in 2006 for the first time, to 10.3 million, up from 8.5 million farmers in 2005.

Clive James, chairman and founder of ISAAA and author of the report, expects these adoption levels to continue accelerating throughout the second decade of commercialization. By 2015, ISAAA predicts more than 20 million farmers will plant 200 million hectares of biotech crops in about 40 countries.

The report cites biofuel as a major growth driver. Biotech crops will be used to increase the efficiency and meet added demand for alternative energy, as well as exploring biotech options to bring cellulose-based ethanol from energy crops to market, the group said.

The ISAAA expects biotech crops will play a key role in meeting increased demands for food and fuel. Further, biotech crops with drought-tolerant traits are expected to reach the market within the next five years, it said, unlocking substantial production opportunities in dryer climates.

Other motivations for adopting bioengineered crops included higher yields and reduced spraying costs, which increases farmers' profits, particularly in poor areas.

"More than 90 percent or 9.3 million farmers growing biotech crops last year were small, resource-poor farmers from the developing world, allowing biotechnology to make a modest contribution to the alleviation of their poverty," James said. "Millions of small, resource-poor farmers will turn to the potential biotech crops offer in the next decade."

The report was co-sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, a U.S.-based philanthropic organization associated with the Green Revolution that saved up to a billion lives in the 1960s, and Ibercaja, one of the largest Spanish banks headquartered in the maize growing region of Spain.

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) is a not-for-profit organization with an international network of centers designed to contribute to the alleviation of hunger and poverty by sharing knowledge and crop biotechnology applications.

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