THE Philippines can gain a lot from the advancement of biotechnology researches. Biotechnology in agriculture is a promising and a highly potential instrument in increasing productivity and in securing sufficiency in food.

For instance, a hectare of land has the potential to produce 15 tons, more than the usual 5 tons of palay per cropping season with biotechnology. [...] Biotechnology is a part of Agham Party-list’s advocacies and Palmones has filed the proposed Biotechnology Act of 2010 (House Bill 844), or An Act Promoting the Growth of Biotechnology Industry in the Philippines and the Creation of Wealth from Biodiversity.

Rice has a “yield barrier” because of the nature of its photosynthetic process. IRRI and its partners are seeking to install a more efficient photosynthetic pathway – C4 – in rice to increase production. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), and IRRI have funded the C4 rice project’s second phase for $14million over 3 years. C4 rice, if successfully developed, has the potential to produce 50% more grain with less water and nutrients, which would contribute to future food security. The C4 rice research is seen as long-term scientific endeavor that seeks to help secure food for majority of the world’s population.

THE government should ban genetically modified organisms in the country, Indian scientist Dr. Tushar Chakraborty said on Wednesday. In a press conference organized by Greenpeace, Chakraborty, the principal scientist of the Gene Regulation Laboratory—Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, said banning of GMOs in the Philippines is the most prudent, science-based approach to the “uncertainties” surrounding GMO crop technologies. He also said GMO crops, like the insect-resistant Bacillus thuriengensis eggplant and the so-called golden rice, pose significant risks to human health and the environment.

A group of peasants and scientists is calling on authorities for the immediate termination of field trials of the Golden Rice at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice) saying this might be the final phase of field testing before its commercialization next year. The Magsasaka at Siyentipiko pasa sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (Masipag), in a statement released to the media, said the Golden Rice is “genetically modified” as it is “artificially inserted” with genes from the bacteria Erwinia uredovora and corn so it can produce beta carotene, a precursor of Vitamin A. The Golden Rice, according to Masipag, is currently under field testing in Ilocos Norte, Nueva Ecija and Camarines Sur. Come 2013, it is targeted for commercial use.

Food stakeholders here led by the advocacy group instrumental in the first anti-genetically modified organism ordinance sound the alarm over the introduction of field tests of a genetically engineered rice in the country, which could contaminate Bohol endemic rice varieties. At the World Food Day celebrations, October 16, Bohol Initiators for Sustainable Agricultural Development (BISAD) in Bohol put up a gallant stand to advocate for a solid block to deter the entry of golden rice, one that has been portrayed by its creators as a quick-fix solution to the country's vitamin A deficiency.

Environmental groups alerted the public on Tuesday on the presence of genetically modified organisms in white corn, a staple in Visayas and Mindanao. Greenpeace campaigner Daniel Ocampo said that recently “contaminated” corn crops are incidental spawns of Bacillus thuringiensis corn, a variety known to contain GMOs, produced by processes supported by the Department of Agriculture. Bohol farmers reported the spread of GMOs in the soil where they grow white corn, and that such cross-pollination cannot be controlled, the group said.

The Philippines is open to collaborating with the United States and members of the Association of Southeast Nations, to share its experience on how biotechnology allowed Filipino farmers to improve their productivity, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday [...] during the agriculture and food security conference for the ASEAN diplomatic community in Washington DC [...] The conference, attended by Philippine embassy officials, was organized by the US Department of State and Department of Agriculture and the American chemical manufacturer E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company as a forum for participants to gather and exchange information on the role of agricultural biotechnology in achieving sustainable agriculture production.

There are strong voices of caution being raised, particularly in Asia, in response tothe impending threat of GE rice entering traditional food and agricultural production systems. And there is no denying that behind all the hype about the supposed benefits of ‘golden’ rice, it is in fact no different from other genetically engineered rice varieties: it is an untested, unproven technology, poses significant risks to health, the environment and indeed the farming community, and most significantly, poses a very real threat to traditional rice varieties.

The call for the adoption of genetically-modified corn technologies is ”harmful” to corn farmers, a militant peasant group said.

This, as the 8th Philippine National Corn Congress held here last month passed a resolution calling for the adoption of GM corn technologies to increase the average yield of corn production in the country. Pedro Arnado, local chairperson of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, said farmers have complained of low incomes and bankruptcy due to their failure to pay mounting debts from traders in business with multinational GM seed producers.

Fearing for environmental and health hazards against public consumers, sustainable agriculture advocates here sought to stop the endorsement by local governments to support the commercial production of genetically-modified Bt Talong. In an interview with Davao Today, Ramer Tandoy of the Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (Masipag) said that Mahayco, a subsidiary of the transnational Monsanto Corporation, is seeking an endorsement following the expiration of the company's field testing permit in June this year. The field testing, according to Masipag, pushed through despite widespread opposition from local, national and international groups that advocate organic farming and environmental protection.