Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 5 • Number 1 • 21st January 2005

ISAAA Report: Biotech Crops Up by 20 Percent

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The global area of biotech crops continued to grow for the ninth consecutive year in 2004 with a yearly growth rate of 20 percent compared with 15 percent in 2003, according to the annual report of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) released on 12 January. The estimated global area of approved biotech crops for 2004 was 81.0 million hectares, equivalent to 200 million acres, up from 67.7 million hectares or 167 million acres in 2003, with more than one third (34 percent) of that area grown in developing countries. Biotech crops were grown by approximately 8.25 million farmers in 17 countries, namely the US, Argentina, Canada, Brazil, China, Paraguay, India, South Africa, Uruguay, Australia, Romania, Mexico, Spain, the Philippines, Colombia, Germany and Honduras. Although Bulgaria and Indonesia did not grow biotech crops in 2004 owing to ‘expiry of permits’ used to grow such crops in 2003, Paraguay joined the group for the first time in 2004 and already grows two percent of the world’s genetically modified crops.

According to the ISAAA report, absolute growth in biotech crop area between 2003 and 2004 was, for the first time, higher for developing countries (7.2 million hectares) than for industrial countries (6.1 million hectares), with the percentage growth almost three times as high (35 percent) in the developing countries, compared with the industrial countries (13 percent). The report notes that the two main biotechnology traits continue to be herbicide tolerance (72 percent) and insect resistance (19 percent) and that soybean, maize, cotton and canola continue to be the four main commercialised crops. The report concludes by predicting the expansion of biotechnology crops in 2005 up to 150 million hectares, with up to 15 million farmers growing crops in up to 30 countries.

“Preview: Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2004,” ISAAA Brief 32, 12 January 2005.