Brazil increased GMO planting in 2015

With 44.2 million hectares planted in 2015, Brazil has increased in 5% its GMO crops area compared to the previous year, when there were 42 million hectares. It is the largest growth of the adoption of the biotechnology in the world, which puts the country as the second biggest producer of GMOS, just behind the United States (70.9 million hectares).

The data is in a report of the International Service for the Acquisition of Applications in Agrobiotechnology (ISAAA) released on April 13^th. According to the founder and emeritus director of ISAAA, Clive James, the greater acceptance of GMOs by farmers occurs because the technology was rigorously tested and its effectiveness was proven in the last 20 years.

In Brazil, the National Technical Commission of Biosecurity has beaten a record of approval of new agents: 14 transgenic plants were released in 2015 – the most on soybeans, corn and cotton. Among the news, it was highlighted that the commercial confirmation of the first transgenic eucalyptus in the world.

"The competitiveness of Brazilian agriculture is a result of a strong synergy between the field needs, biotechnology adoption and scientific criteria on evaluations of biosecurity. There is not one scientific study that have concluded that they cause damage to human health, to animals or the natural environmental,” affirms the executive-director of the Biotechnology Information Council, Adriana Brondani.

"Among the country where biotechnology is most present, Brazil is the only one that can expand the area without advancing through preservation areas, but through recovering degraded areas, “concludes Adriana.