Global status of commercialized biotech/GM crops in 2013(Part 2)

From 1996 to 2012, biotech crops contributed to Food Security, Sustainability and Climate Change by: increasing crop production valued at US$116.9 billion; providing a better environment, by saving 497 million kg a.i. of pesticides; in 2012 alone reducing CO2 emissions by 26.7 billion kg, equivalent to taking 11.8 million cars off the road for one year; conserving biodiversity in the period 1996-2012 by saving 123 million hectares of land; and helped alleviate poverty by helping >16.5 million small farmers, and their families totaling >65 million people,  who are some of the poorest people in the world. Biotech crops can contribute to a “sustainable intensification” strategy favored by many science academies worldwide, which allows productivity/production to be increased only on the current 1.5 billion hectares of global crop land, thereby saving forests and biodiversity. Biotech crops are essential but are not a panacea and adherence to good farming practices, such as rotations and resistance management, are a must for biotech crops as they are for conventional crops.

Contribution of biotech crops to Sustainability

Biotech crops are contributing to sustainability in the following five ways:

• Contributing to food, feed and fiber security and self sufficiency, including more affordable food, by increasing productivity and economic benefits sustainably at the farmer level

Economic gains at the farm level of ~US$116.9 billion were generated globally by biotech crops during the seventeen year period 1996 to 2012, of which 58% were due to reduced production costs (less ploughing, fewer pesticide sprays and less labor) and 42% due to substantial yield gains of 377 million tons. The corresponding figure for 2012 alone was 83% of the total US$18.7 billion gain due to increased yield (equivalent to 47 million tons), and 17% due to lower cost of production (Brookes and Barfoot, 2014, Forthcoming).

• Conserving biodiversity, biotech crops are a land saving technology

Biotech crops are a land-saving technology, capable of higher productivity on the current 1.5 billion hectares of arable land, and thereby can help preclude deforestation and protect biodiversity in forests and in other in-situ biodiversity sanctuaries – a sustainable intensification strategy. Approximately 13 million hectares of biodiversity – rich tropical forests, are lost in developing countries annually. If the 377 million tons of additional food, feed and fiber produced by biotech crops during the period 1996 to 2012 had not been produced by biotech crops, an additional 123 million hectares (Brookes and Barfoot, 2014, Forthcoming) of conventional crops would have been required to produce the same tonnage. Some of the additional 123 million hectares would probably have required fragile marginal lands, not suitable for crop production, to be ploughed, and for tropical forest, rich in biodiversity, to be felled to make way for slash and burn agriculture in developing countries, thereby destroying biodiversity.

• Contributing to the alleviation of poverty and hunger

To-date, biotech cotton in developing countries such as China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Bolivia, Burkina Faso and South Africa have already made a significant contribution to the income of  >16.5 million small resource-poor farmers in 2013. This can be enhanced in the remaining 2 years of the second decade of commercialization, 2014 to 2015 principally with biotech cotton and maize.

• Reducing agriculture’s environmental footprint

Conventional agriculture has impacted significantly on the environment, and biotechnology can be used to reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture. Progress to-date includes: a significant reduction in pesticides; saving on fossil fuels; decreasing CO2 emissions through no/less ploughing; and conserving soil and moisture by optimizing the practice of no till through application of herbicide tolerance. The accumulative reduction in pesticides for the period 1996 to 2012 was estimated at 497 million kilograms (kgs) of active ingredient (a.i.), a saving of 8.7% in pesticides, which is equivalent to an 18.5% reduction in the associated environmental impact of pesticide use on these crops, as measured by the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ). EIQ is a composite measure based on the various factors contributing to the net environmental impact of an individual active ingredient. The corresponding data for 2012 alone was a reduction of 36 million kgs a.i. (equivalent to a saving of 8% in pesticides) and a reduction of 23.6% in EIQ (Brookes and Barfoot, 2014, Forthcoming).

 Increasing efficiency of water usage will have a major impact on conservation and availability of water globally.  Seventy percent of fresh water is currently used by agriculture globally, and this is obviously not sustainable in the future as the population increases by almost 30%  to over 9 billion by 2050. The first biotech maize hybrids with a degree of drought tolerance were commercialized in 2013 in the USA, and the first tropical biotech drought tolerant maize is expected by ~2017 in sub-Saharan Africa. Drought tolerance is expected to have a major impact on more sustainable cropping systems worldwide, particularly in developing countries, where drought will likely be more prevalent and severe than industrial countries.

• Helping mitigate climate change and reducing greenhouse gases

The important and urgent concerns about the environment have implications for biotech crops, which contribute to a reduction of greenhouse gases and help mitigate climate change in two principal ways. First, permanent savings in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through reduced use of fossil-based fuels, associated with fewer insecticide and herbicide sprays. In 2012, this was an estimated saving of 2.1 billion kg of CO2, equivalent to reducing the number of cars on the roads by 0.94 million. Secondly, additional savings from conservation tillage (need for less or no ploughing facilitated by herbicide tolerant biotech crops) for biotech food, feed and fiber crops, led to an additional soil carbon sequestration equivalent in 2012 to 24.61 billion kg of CO2, or removing 10.9 million cars off the road for one year. Thus in 2012, the combined permanent and additional savings through sequestration was equivalent to a saving of 26.7 billion kg of CO2 or removing 11.8 million cars from the road (Brookes and Barfoot, 2014, Forthcoming).

Droughts, floods, and temperature changes are predicted to become more prevalent and more severe as we face the new challenges associated with climate change, and hence, there will be a need for faster crop improvement programs to develop varieties and hybrids that are well adapted to more rapid changes in climatic conditions. Several biotech crop tools and techniques, including tissue culture, diagnostics, genomics, molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) zinc fingers, and biotech crops can be used collectively for ‘speeding the breeding’ and help mitigate the effects of climate change. Biotech crops are already contributing to reducing CO2 emissions by precluding the need for ploughing a significant portion of cropped land, conserving soil, particularly moisture, and reducing pesticide spraying as well as sequestering CO2.

In summary, collectively the above five thrusts have already demonstrated the capacity of biotech crops to contribute to sustainability in a significant manner and for mitigating the formidable challenges associated with climate change and global warming, and the potential for the future is enormous. Biotech crops can increase productivity and income significantly, and hence, can serve as an engine of rural economic growth that can contribute to the alleviation of poverty for the world’s small and resource-poor farmers.

To be continued......