Argentina to become biotechnology supplier to China

Argentina's secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fishery, Carlos Casamiquela, recently held a meeting with Minister of Agriculture China. The goal is to sign regulatory agreement that would allow seeds exports and open new perspectives to Argentina.

 

Argentina occupies the third place in the global ranking of producers of GM crops, and intends to project as one of the leading nations of seed production with added value.

 

The Argentinean delegation sought to increase the cultivars diversity sold in China. Speeding up the exchange of germplasm for research projects and integrated development for companies in both countries was also discussed.

 

An important part of the meeting between Secretary Gabriel Delgado and Deputy Minister of Agriculture of China, Yu Kangzhen, was to implement an action plan until 2017, which would materialize with the agreements signed during the visit of Chinese president, XI Jinping to Argentina in July.

 

"Argentina is one the main exporters of corn and soybeans and different from its competitors, has a list of transgenic events similar to China. This is not casual, it is the respect of Argentina towards its main customer", said the secretary.

 

"If we achieve to approach the regulatory frameworks between China and Argentina, we can follow the approval of transgenic events in both countries, and the commercialization of grains and seeds derived from the Chinese market. Besides, we have 10 new GM crops awaiting for domestic approval ", explained Martín Lema, director of biotechnology at Argentina's Agriculture Ministry.

 

Currently, 30 GM crops approved in Argentina includes 3 cotton, 5 soybeans, and 22 corn. The incorporated characteristics so far are the tolerance to herbicides and the resistance to insects. Resistance to drought and herbicides for sugarcane are still pending.