by Phuoc Buu
HCM CITY — Genetically modified crops will play an important role in ensuring food security and sustainable development, according to experts at a biotechnology workshop held in HCM City yesterday.
Plants like corn and soybeans with modified genes are pest-resistant and have a higher yield, but have no negative impact on human health or the environment.
Prof Tran Thi Cuc Hoa of Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute said the institute had transferred selected pest-resistant genes to several varieties of soybeans.
The results showed that the transgenic lines had significantly higher pest resistance compared with non-genetically modified lines.
"The soybean is an important food plant in Viet Nam, planted on 20,000ha of land, but with a low yield because of pests and plant health," she said. "The use of genetically modified [GM] soybean varieties is a feasible solution to increase production."
In the Philippines, the use of GM strains has been used in corn, the number-two crop in the country, following rice.
GM corn has had high yields across the seasons, generating positive differences of 4-34 per cent over the original hybrid corn.
This resulted in an income increase for farmers from 3 per cent to 75 per cent during the wet season, and 1 per cent to 75 per cent during the dry season, said Dr Reynaldo V Ebora of the University of the Philippines Los Banos College.
Ebora, director of the university's National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, said GM corn had generated a higher caloric content than conventional corn.
Another expert at the workshop, Dr Nguyen Quoc Binh, deputy director of HCM City Biotechnology Centre, said pesticide manufacturing and spraying were not necessary to protect GM crops.
Because GM plants are pest-resistant and not harmful to human health, there is no need to use pesticides.
Binh said findings showed that worm-resistant transgenic plants had no negative effect on the environment, thanks to the use of Bt (Bacillus Thuringiensis) toxins that are produced within the plant and kill pests that attack the plants.
Ebora of the University of the Philippines said his observations of six years showed that genetically-modified Bt corn in the Phillipines planted in fields did not adversely affect other varieties of corn crops in the fields.
Dr Duong Hoa Xo, director of the HCM City Biotechnology Centre, noted that the adoption of GM plants had occurred 15 years ago by some countries, and by last year, there were 124 million ha of GM crops in 25 countries, with 45 million farmer households involved.
Xo said the workshop showed that GM plants were safe and could enhance the socio-economic development of the country.
The workshop will also be held in Ha Noi on September 30 and Vinh Phuc on October 1. It is co-organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the American Embassy in Viet Nam, which also sponsors the event.
Le Thanh An, consul general of the US General Consulate in HCM City, said the workshop was an attempt to bring scientists, farmers and policymakers together to improve Viet Nam's economic development, poverty reduction and environmental protection.
In the context of climate change, including changes like drought, acid soil, low or high temperatures and pests, GM crops will be the key to food safety, according to Prof Bui Chi Buu of the Southern Agricultural Science Institute. — VNS
