Global status of commercialized biotech/GM crops in 2017
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) released a newstudy highlighting the continued social, environmental and economic benefits of the global adoption of biotechnology in agriculture. The ISAAA’s “Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2017” – examine the continued widespread adoption of global crop biotechnology, and the significant positive socio-economic and environmental impacts of this adoption by farmers and communities around the globe. The ISAAA report shows the global biotech crop area increased in 2017 by 3 percent or 4.7 million hectares. This increase is due primarily to greater profitability stemming from higher commodity prices, increased market demand both domestically and internationally, and the presence of available seed technologies. As more developing countries, now 19 in total including India, Pakistan, Brazil, Bolivia, Sudan, Mexico, Colombia, Vietnam, Honduras, and Bangladesh have increased their biotech crop area and continue to allow farmers to adopt biotechnology in food production, smallholder farmers see the direct improvements this offers, allowing them to provide better lives for themselves and their families. In fact, developing countries now account for 53 percent of the global biotech area planted.