Despite the long enunciated national policy of safe, responsible use of modern biotechnology, a few local government units in the Philippines have unilaterally passed resolutions/ordinances banning genetically modified (GMO) crops in their respective jurisdictions. These bans deprive our farmers of an effective technology that can raise their productivity, increase their incomes, and enhance competitiveness of our agricultural products …. Thus, these proscriptions …. unlawfully [restrict] free choice in business [ and harm the poor].
The broad acceptance of GMO technology by our corn farmers who planted 642,000 hectares of GMO corn hybrids in 2017 is eloquent proof of the productivity and income raising potential of modern biotechnology. Instead of attaining an average national yield of only 1.75 tons per hectare with non GMO white corn, our yellow corn GMO farmers average 4.17 tons per hectare, a productivity advantage of 138 percent.
[Editor’s note: Emil Javier, a member of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and Chair of the Coalition for Agricultural Modernization in the Philippines (CAMP).]
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Although there are still plenty of skeptics particularly in Europe who refuse to recognize the potential value to mankind of GMO technology in crops …. the weight of scientific consensus in favor of GMO technology is abundantly clear from published statements of the world’s leading academies of science and responsible development agencies ….
Read full, original article: Policy Brief Volume 1, No. 3: Broad Scientific Consensus on Safety of GMO Crops
