According to Global Status of Commercialized Transgenic Crops: 2003, a report released by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), farmers around the world continue to plant biotech crops at a double-digit growth rate, with the total acreage planted in 2003 up 15 percent to 167.2 million acres.Seven million farmers in 18 countries are planting biotech crops. Of these, more than 85 percent are resource-poor and living in developing nations. In 2003, almost one-third of the global biotech crop area was located in developing countries, up from one-quarter in 2002.
Brazil, South Africa, the United States, Argentina, Canada, and China are the leading growers of biotech crops, accounting for 99 percent of the global crop area.
China and South Africa experienced the greatest annual increase, with both countries planting one-third more biotech crop acres in 2003 than in 2002. Within the next 5 years, ISAAA predicts that 10 million farmers in 25 or more countries will plant 247,000,000 acres of biotech crops.
Why are farmers planning biotech crops? According to Clive James, chairman and founder of ISAAA, "They continue to rapidly adopt biotech crops because of significant agronomic, economic, environmental, and social advantages." From soil conservation through reduced use of tillage in Iowa to increased income for cotton farmers in South Africa, specific examples of these benefits are detailed in the ISAAA report.
The Executive Summary of the report (ISAAA Briefs 30, by Clive James) can be accessed at .
