User:4fiiikw/loepo


 * China embraces GM rice (14)
 * Further thoughts on Chinese Bt-cotton pests (91)
 * []

"Farmers in China have experienced a $4 billion income increase from planting biotech cotton. " article 42

• India: 3.8 million hectares. India posted the highest percentage growth in 2006 at 192 percent, or 2.5 million hectares. Biotech cotton area nearly tripled, exceeding China’s biotech cotton area for the first time.

• China: 3.5 million hectares. China increased its Bt cotton crop from 3.3 to 3.5 million hectares in 2006, a growth rate of 6 percent.

Even though she is the world’s top soy importer, China exported nearly half a million tons of non-GM-soya last year as well as products from other conventional (i.e. non-GM) crops. But recent indications suggest that they will soon stop completely the export of food grains in an effort to control local food price inflation.

Now, Beijing is set to stop grains exports altogether, including soy, as it struggles with soaring vegetable oils prices that helped lift China's inflation to an 11-year high by January. [Article 178]

GM technology is valuable for both developing countries and the West. Western countries gain via increased income for their farmers, lower prices and nutritional improvements for the consumers, less agricultural stress on the environment and more economic activity for the community. Governments like those in India, China and elsewhere grow GM crops developed in the West and encourage their scientists to develop GM varieties for their own special needs. As a result, a substantial amount of GM cotton in China is now developed there. It is a win-win situation for everybody.

Key words: Falun Gong Censorship Freedom china chinese Democracy Uighur Uyghur Olympics Beijing taiwan hu jintao tibet dalai lamai ndependence terrorism bomb

''But the big news comes from China. In field trials there, farmers growing GM rice have reported crop yields up by 10%, pesticide use down 80% and fewer pesticide-related health problems. There have been preliminary accounts before about these developments, particularly about massive reductions in the pesticide used for cotton, with immediate health benefits from farmers who not infrequently use back-packs with inadequate personal protection; more than 50,000 farmers have been suffering from pesticide poisoning, with 400-500 fatalities annually. Now we have chapter and verse.''

''W hen compared with conventional varieties, GM rice allowed the farmers to reduce pesticide for controlling the rice stem borer by 80%. More than 60% of farmers planting insect-resistant GM rice used no insecticide at all while almost 90% did not have to spray specifically for the stem borer. Moreover, the average yields of the GM varieties were 6-9% higher than those of conventional rice varieties.''

''The results, published in the journal Science, suggest that China is on the threshold of commercialising GM rice, the world’s most important crop in the world’s most populous country. Thus has five years of agricultural biotechnology been rejected and consigned to history.''

[Article 11]


 * Seven-year glitch: Cornell warns that Chinese GM cotton farmers are losing money due to 'secondary' pests

China Chinese genetically modified good

gm food

However, with the emerging demand on the Chinese market, the report signals that even Brazil may convert to GM soya in the next two years which would leave the EU with an import deficit of 32 million tonnes, only 6-7 million tonnes of which could be made up by increased production.

Studies in India and China show Bt cotton has increased yields by up to 50% and 10%, respectively, and reduced insecticide use in both countries up to 50% or more. In India, growers increased income up to $250 or more per hectare, increasing farmer income nationally from $840 million to $1.7 billion last year. Chinese farmers saw similar gains with incomes growing an average of $220 per hectare, or more than $800 million nationally. Importantly, these studies showed strong farmer confidence in the crops with 9 of 10 Indian farmers replanting biotech cotton year on year, and 100% of Chinese farmers choosing to continue utilizing the technology.