A global view

Globally, the acreage of biotech cotton has been showing an increase year on year and has reached significant hectarage.

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) brings out a status report on the global status of commercialized biotech/GM crops. Some excerpts from this report which give an overview of the world wide biotech cotton scenario.

Of the 40 countries that grow cotton, a majority of area (75%) is occupied by six countries i.e. US, China, India, Pakistan, Brazil and Uzbekistan. Four countries US (37.5), Australia (7.2), Uzbekistan (10.3) and Brazil (5.2) occupy TWO-THIRD share of global export of cotton. Rest is shared by 34 countries. Nine major producer and exporter of cotton have adopted GM Cotton in 2006 (see map).

The area planted to Bt cotton globally in 2006 was up 3.6 million hectares, equivalent to a 37 percent growth over 2006, the highest of all biotech crops, reaching 13.4 million hectares globally and equivalent to 38 percent of all the global area of 35 million hectares in 2006. Most (70 percent) of the 3.6 million hectare growth was in India (2.5 million hectares) followed distantly by the US (6,75,000 hectares), Argentina (285,000), and China (200,000) hectares. The significant growth overshadowed the biotech cotton decreases of 80,000 hectares in Mexico, due to seed import constraints, and 90,000 hectares in Australia, in line with substantial reductions of total plantings of cotton due to drought. Approximately 1,20,000 hectares of Bt cotton was grown in Brazil for the first time and this is expected to be a steep adoption curve similar to that witnessed in India and China to-date.

The details about how biotech cotton is faring in some of the different countries that have adopted it is as follows:

USA

The US is one of the six "founder biotech crop countries" having commercialized biotech cotton, maize, soybean and potato in 1996, the first year of global commercialization of biotech crops. The total plantings of upland cotton at 6.0 million hectares in 2006 (the fourth highest in 30 years) were up seven percent on last year's 5.63 million hectares with growers increasing their hectarage of cotton in Mississippi, New Mexico, Arizona and California. The increase in biotech cotton was 675,000 hectares equivalent to a 15 percent increase and now occupies 88 percent of upland cotton in the US.

The total plantings of biotech cotton in the US in 2006 at 5.3 million hectares are a record high in hectarage and adoption (88 percent). RR Flex cotton was introduced in the US and Australia for the first time in 2006 by Monsanto. It was marketed as a single gene and also as a stacked product with insect resistance in Bollgard II. RR Flex herbicide tolerant cotton was launched in 2006 on over 800,000 hectares. RR Flex cotton was planted as a single trait and as a stacked product with Bt, with the latter occupying the majority of the hectarage. The plantings were principally in the US with a smaller hectarage in Australia.

The first ever biotech variety of American Pima Cotton, PHY 810 R, resistant to the herbicide RoundUp was planted in the US in 2006. The product was introduced by Phytogen, a joint venture between Mycogen Corporation and an affiliate DowAgroSciences LLC, and JG Boswell. It is estimated that PHY 810 R occupied approximately 5 percent of the American Pima cotton hectarage in the US in 2006.

Argentina

Argentina is also one of the six "founder biotech crop countries" having commercialized RR Soybean and Bt cotton in 1996. Argentina increased its reported area of biotech cotton in 2006 significantly to approximately
3, 60,000 hectares of which over 2, 70,000 hectares was Bt cotton and 90,000 hectares was herbicide tolerant cotton.

Brazil

The approval in 2005 of one biotech cotton event (BCE 531) in the variety DP9B allowed cotton growers in Brazil to legally plant Bt cotton for the first time in the 2006/07 season. This variety underwent field-testing in Brazil prior to the events that delayed registration due to legal considerations. In July 2006, another Bt cotton variety NuOpal was registered, thus two varieties were available in 2006. Input costs on cotton production in Brazil are very high with insecticides comprising up to 40 percent of the total production costs and involving up to 14 sprays per season. Brazil is expected to grow approx 1.2 million hectares of cotton in 2006 making it the sixth largest grower of cotton by area in the world after India, the US, China, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. The adoption of biotech cotton in Brazil in 2006/07 was rapid and expected to reach high adoption rates in the near term as more adopted varieties become available and are approved for registration.

China

Like the US, Argentina and Canada, China is a member of the group of six "founder biotech crop countries" having commercialized Bt cotton in 1996, the first year of global commercialization of biotech crops. The national area planted to cotton in china increased from 5.1 million hectares in 2005 to 5.3 million hectares in 2006. This increase of 5 percent in total plantings resulted in a parallel increase in area of Bt cotton from 3.3 million hectares in 2005 to 3.5 million hectares in 2006, with percentage adoption of Bt at 66 percent, the same as in 2005. In 2005 approval was granted to grow one of the new hybrids, Yinmian 2 on about 700 hectares in the yellow river region in 2006. Notably the public sector in China has invested significantly in crop biotechnology and has developed Bt cotton varieties that share the market with varieties developed by the international private sector. The simultaneous marketing of biotech crops from the public and private sector is unique to China at this time but is expected to also become more prevalent in India as biotech crops are developed by government supported public sector institutions.

South Africa

Total cotton planting in 2006 were estimated at 22,000 hectares, similar to last year, of which 20,000 hectares or 92 percent were biotech cotton. Of the 20,000 hectares of biotech cotton, 13,000 hectares (65 percent of biotech cotton hectares) had stacked traits of both Bt and herbicide tolerance, 5,000 hectares (25 percent of biotech cotton hectares) were the single Bt and 2,000 hectares (10 percent of biotech cotton hectares) were herbicide tolerant , used mostly as refugia in Bt fields.

Australia

Australia is the fifth member of the six "founder biotech crop countries" having commercialized Bt cotton in 1996. Australia is expected to plant only 200,000 hectares of cotton in 2006 because of continuing severe droughts. It is projected that in 2006 about 66 percent of all cotton in Australia will feature the stacked genes for herbicide tolerance and insect resistance (the dual RR and BT gene Bollgard II-this will include a small area of RR flex; 17 percent with the dual Bt gene on its own, compared with 10 percent in 2005; 8 percent with a single gene for herbicide tolerance including some of the newly introduced RR flex cotton and the remaining 8 percent in conventional cotton compared with 10 percent in 2005. Australia has achieved the complete substitution of the single Bt gene product (Bollgard I) with the dual Bt gene varieties (Bollgard II) in only two years 2002/03.

Mexico

Mexico is the last of the six "founder biotech crop countries" having grown biotech Bt cotton in 1996. After a large increase in 2005 to 120,000 hectares biotech cotton hectarage in 2006 decreased to approx 55,000 because of regulatory delays that precluded the importation of biotech cotton seed for the early planting in Mexico. In 2006, biotech cotton in Mexico comprised Bt cotton (about 25,000 hectares), herbicide tolerant (HT) cotton (1,000 hectares) and the stacked traits of Bt /HT (30,000 hectares). Mexico is one of the four countries to deploy the Bt/HT stacked cotton, the other countries are the US, Australia and South Africa.

Columbia

Colombia introduced Bt cotton in 2002 on approx 2,000 hectares and in the interim this has increased consistently each year in 2003, 2004 and 2005 to reach 30,000 hectares in 2006, equivalent to almost 40 percent of the national cotton crop of 72,000 hectares in 2006. In 2006 Columbia also grew its first crop of herbicide tolerant cotton on approx 1,000 hectares.