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Navorsing - Research

Biotechnology in Cotton

Summary Of A Report By The Icac’s Round Table For Biotechnology In Cotton As Presented At The ICAC’s 72nd Plenary
Meeting Held In Colombia In Sept/Oct. 2013

GLOBAL ADOPTION OF BIOTECH CROPS Paraguay, South Africa, Sudan and the USA) planted biotech cotton.
Following South Africa and Burkina Faso, Sudan is the third African
Across the globe, more and more farmers are deciding to utilize country to commercialize biotech cotton. Other countries in Africa
biotechnology for higher yields and reduced production costs. have conducted trials and are close to commercializing biotech cotton.
Farmers have adopted crops genetically modified through modern
biotechnology with the fastest adoption rate of any crop technology. From the 1960’s to the 1990’s, Australia relied almost exclusively on
applications of insecticides which inevitably led to pesticide resistance
First commercially available in 1996, the cultivation of biotech crops in key pests whilst weeds were controlled through pre- and post-
increased from 1.7 million hectares to 170 million hectares in 2012. planting use of residual herbicides. Heavy reliance on chemical control
In 2011 there were 17.3 million farmers growing biotech crops in by their cotton industry resulted in negative public perceptions and
28 countries around the world while biotech cotton is grown in 11 Australia was in serious need of a technology that could reduce reliance
countries. The vast majority of these farmers (90%) were small, poor on chemicals. Consequently, the Australian cotton industry moved to
farmers from developing countries.
integrated pest management (IPM) techniques, and was one of the first
adopters of biotech cotton in conjunction with IPM systems.
ADOPTION OF BIOTECH COTTON Most varieties in Australia today contain the Bollgard II and Roundup
Ready Flex traits together. Australia implemented a strict biosafety
In 2012/13 fifteen countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Burkina regulatory system that has evolved over the years with limited risk to
Faso, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Mexico, Myanmar, Pakistan,
public health and environmental safety as its core principles.
The success story of biotech cotton in various
countries is similar: increased yields, reduced
pesticide use, less tillage, increased worker
safety.

BIOTECH COTTON AND PESTS
Experience with biotech cotton in Brazil,
Colombia, Pakistan and South Africa has
concluded that success of a biotech product
could be hampered by local constrains and
limitations. Although lepidopterans are very
important in South and Central America,
boll weevil is still the key pest in most of
the countries in these regions, and the Cry
insecticidal proteins present in biotech cotton
do not affect the boll weevil or other sucking
pests. The benefits of biotechnology in cotton
observed in Africa, Asia, and the USA will only
be achieved in Brazil and Colombia if boll weevil
resistance is incorporated. The development of
a boll weevil resistance trait is ongoing in public
research institutes of Brazil and Argentina.

All biotech cotton producing countries have
reported some unintended consequences. The
most common problem is the development
of secondary pests. As pesticide applications
for lepidopteran species declines, secondary
pests, which had previously been inadvertently
controlled by these applications, have increased

Katoen SA Cotton 12 Februarie • February 2014