Philippines earns an extra $972.6 million over 16 years of growing GM crops

Renowned economist Graham Brookes presented the global economic and environmental impacts of biotech crops from 1996 to 2018 for Thai stakeholders through a live webinar organized by the Biotechnology Alliance Association of Thailand and ISAAA. The webinar also featured a multi-awarded Thai farmer who highlighted how biotechnology can help change the course of agriculture in the country.

Brookes provided data about the impact of genetically modified (GM) maize in the Philippines and Vietnam, countries that are similar to Thailand in terms of climate and agricultural settings. For the Philippines, Brookes reported that GM maize with insect resistance, herbicide tolerance, and stacked traits had an increased yield impact of 5.3%, 18.2%, and 23.5%, respectively. The total farm income gain from 2002 to 2018 is USD 972.6 million with a production impact of 4.29 million tons.

Vietnam, on the other hand, adopted stacked maize technology in 2015. As of 2019, 10.2% of maize in Vietnam uses this technology. It brought the farmers’ average income gain from USD195.67 per hectare to USD329.75 per hectare, and almost doubled their average return of investment from USD6.84 per hectare to USD12.55 per hectare for every extra USD1.00 spent on the seed.