India ranks 5th

India enters the top 5 club of GM crop growing nations.

India , the largest cotton growing country in the world and highly dependent on agriculture, first adopted Bt cotton in 2002 when 54,000 farmers grew approximately 50,000 hectares of officially approved Bt cotton hybrids for the first time and doubled its Bt cotton area to approximately 100, 000 hectares in 2003. The area further increased four fold in 2004 to reach half a million hectares. In 2005, the area planted under Bt cotton rose steadily to reach 1.3 million hectares, an increase of 160 percent over 2004. In 2006, the area tripled to a record 3.8 million hectares. The tripling in area was the highest percentage year-on-year growth for any country planting biotech crops in the world in 2006. India's Bt cotton area in 2006 also exceed that of China's 3.5 million hectares. In 2007, the Indian cotton sector continued to grow with a record increase of 63 percent reaching 6.2 million hectares, thus having the highest percentage of year-on-year growth compared to any other Bt cotton growing country in the world. India also overtook the US to become the second largest cotton producing country in the world after China. There has also been an increase in the number of approved Bt cotton hybrids. A total of 131 Bt cotton hybrids were approved for planting in 2007 compared to 62 in 2006, 20 in 2005 and only four Bt cotton hybrids in 2004. Over the years, India has diversified deployment of Bt genes and genotypes which are adapted to different agro-economical zones and to ensure equitable distribution to small and resource poor cotton farmers.

The future

Crop biotech investments from both public and private sectors in India, conservatively estimated at $100 million per annum, are focused on the development of biotech food, feed and fiber crops that can contribute to higher and more stable yields and enhanced nutrition. Several public institutions and private companies in India have projects to develop varieties of the drought tolerant eggplant or brinjal. The eggplant projects are all geared to deliver biotech products for evaluation and approval by the government in the near-term representing India's first biotech food product.

Global status of GM crops

According to the latest report by ISAAA on the global statutes of commercialized biotech/GM crops, the first dozen years of biotech crops starting from 1996-2007 have delivered substantial economic and environmental benefits to farmers in both industrialized nations and developing countries. In 2007, the global area of biotech crops, with growth at a sustained rate of 12 percent, was cultivated in 114.3 million hectares. The year also saw the number of countries planting biotech crops increase to 23, of which 12 were developing countries and 11 industrial countries. Chile, producing over 25,000 hectares of commercial biotech crops for seed export, and Poland (EU), growing Bt maize for the first time, are the two new biotech crop countries in 2007. The US, followed by Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India and China continued to be the principal adopters of biotech crops globally. The US accounted for 50 percent of the total biotech area (57.7 million hectares) that was mainly spurred by a growing market for ethanol with the biotech maize area increasing by a substantial 40 percent.

Developing countries record an increase in biotech acreage

The accumulated hectarage from 1996 to 2007 exceeded two thirds of a billion hectares for the first time at 690 million hectares with an unprecedented increase between 1996 and 2007, making it the fastest adopted technology in recent history. During 1996-2007, the proportion of global area of biotech crops grown by developing countries increased consistently every single year. In 2007, 43 percent of the global biotech crop area (up from 40 percent in 2006) equivalent to 49.4 million hectares was grown in developing countries. In 2006-2007, the growth in developing countries (21 percent) was substantially higher than that of industrialized nations. All the five principal developing countries committed to biotech crops span all three continents in the south--India and China in Asia, Argentina and Brazil in Latin America and South Africa on the African continent.

Source: IGMORRIS NIC India 2007