Insect-Resistant GM Rice in Farmers' Fields: Assessing Productivitz and Health Effects in China
Date: 25.11.2005
Although no country to date has released a major geneticallz modified [GM] food grain crop, China is on the threshold of commercializing GM rice. Farm surveys of randomly selected farm households that are cultivating the insect- resistand GM rice varieties, without the aid of experimental station technicians, demonstrate that when compared with households cultivating non- GM rice, small and poor farm households benefit from adopting GM rice by both higher crop yields and reduced use of pesticides, which also contribute to improved health.
In total, the survey obtained data from 347 rice production plots: 123 plots planed with the insect-resistant GM rice varieties and 224 plots planted with non-GM rice.
Data from the surveys demonstrate that the characteristics of rice producers using the insect-resistant GM rice and non-GM rice are nearly identical an that the main difference between the households is in the level of pesticide use. For example, there is no statistical difference between the size of the farm or the plot or plots, the share of rice in the household's cropping pattern, or the household head's age or education. In contrast, there is a large difference in the use of pesticides. GM rice farmers apply the same types of pesticides but apply them less than once per season. The difference in the levels of pesticide use on insect-resistant GM and non- GM rice is statistically significant. On a per hectare bsis, the quality of and expenditure on pesticides of non-GM rice production is 8 to 10 times as high, espectively, as those for insect-resistant GM rice.
Insect-resistant GM rice yields were 6 to 9% highter than conventional varieties, with an 80% reduction in pesticide usage and a reduction in their adverse health effects. Such high potential benefits suggest that products from China's plant biotechnlogy industry could be an effective waz to increase both competitiveness internationally and rural incomes domestically.
The benefits are only magneified if the health effects are added. The implications fo the commercialization of GM rice in China lso could far exceed the productivity and health effects on its own producers.
source: Journal Science 308, 688-690,2005
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