Crop biotechnology to support Vietnam's food security: Experts

Vietnam has potential to develop crop biotechnology to secure the country's food security, reported by local Vietnam News on Monday.

The report quoted Nguyen Van Tuat, Deputy Director of Vietnam Academy for Agricultural Sciences, saying at a recent workshop on global outlook for genetically modified (GM) crops in Hanoi that in the last few years, the country's field trials for GM crops including maize, soybean and cotton had shown promising results.

Specifically, the productivity of biotech maize productivity reflected 30 to 40 percent higher than in control plots.

Vietnam spent about 2 billion U.S. dollars to import maize and soybean for animal feed production, some of it biotech. So, the country was already consuming GM products in meat and poultry.

Agriculture expert Vo Tong Xuan said that Vietnam had huge demand for raw materials to produce animal feed, which required an improvement of crop technologies. GM crops could help reduce imports and raise incomes for farmers.

However, scientists still questioned the impacts of GM crops on human health and the environment, including the development of pests and weeds which may get out of control, or the loss of valuable characteristics of crops.

According to Dr Clive James, founder and chairman of the International Services for the Acquisition on Agriculture Application, Vietnam had the potential to plant about 1 million hectares in biotech crops, and that if the country does not start soon it may lag behind African countries.

James also emphasized the role of technological applications in agriculture production to eradicate hunger and reduce poverty.

Genetically modified crops first appeared in the world more than two decades ago and have helped increase productivity, reduce the use of chemicals or pesticide, ensure food security and cope with climate change impacts, such as severe drought, flood, and diseases.

There were 28 countries worldwide planting GM crops, led by the United States with 69.5 million hectares, with an average adoption rate of about 90 percent across principal biotech crops. Brazil ranked second in area, with 36.6 million hectares planted.

In 2012, the cultivation area of GM crops worldwide reached 170 million hectares, 100 times up on that of 1996 when the GM crops were first planted for commercial purposes.