THE first workshop in Myanmar devoted to genetically modified crops was held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation in Yangon on September 24.

More than 100 representatives from the ministries of Agriculture and Irrigation, Forestry, Health, Livestock and Fisheries, Education, and Science and Technology discussed how Myanmar should respond to the flow of genetically modified (GM) crops into the country as their use increases among Asian countries.

The Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, Major General Htay Oo, said in the opening speech of the workshop at Myanma Farms Enterprise that GM crops must be used methodically and carefully because they can have an impact on biodiversity, the environment and human health.

However, they can also increase crop production and reduce the need for pesticides, he said.

“We need to balance the benefits of increased productivity with the possible impacts on the environment and human health, to make sure agriculture continues to develop in a sustainable way,” the minister said.

Dr Cho Cho Tun, an assistant manager at Myanma Agriculture Service, said GM crops will become more important as the rapid growth of the world’s population increases the need for greater food production.

However, it is still not necessary to grow GM crops in Myanmar because the country produces enough food to feed its population, she told Myanmar Times on the sidelines of the workshop.

GM crops were grown on 167.2 million acres around the world in 2003, up from 4.3 million acres in 1996, Dr Cho Cho Tun said in her presentation to the workshop.

She said 63 per cent of the acreage was in the United States, followed by 21 per cent in Argentina, six per cent in Canada, four per cent each in China and Brazil, and one per cent in South Africa.

The main GM crops worldwide in 2003 were soybean (53.4 million acres), corn (24.4 million acres) and canola (8.4 million acres), she said.

Improvements in agricultural technology since the 1960s have resulted in high-yield crop varieties and hybrid seeds that have helped increase production, but little had been done to develop resistance to pests or adverse weather until GM crops were created, she said.

These improvements are why GM crops are becoming more important, she said.

Participants at the workshop suggested that Myanmar needs to improve cooperation with regional and international organisations to keep pace with developments in other countries while the use of biotechnology rapidly proliferates.

The workshop also resulted in a call on the government to draft laws related to bio-safety issues to prevent GM crops from having a negative impact on the environment and human health.

A report released by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation at the end of July concluded that GM crops were not necessary to feed the world.

These findings were based on a quantitative analysis comparing world population and global crop production growth rates.

The report said that the growth rate of the world’s population peaked at 2.1 per cent a year in the second half of the 1960s but fell to 1.3 per cent by the late 1990s. It is projected to fall further to 1.0 per cent by 2015, 0.7 per cent by 2030 and 0.3 per cent by 2050.

The annual growth rate of global crop production is also expected to drop over the next three decades, but not as fast as the population rate, so agriculture will be able to keep pace with global food needs, the report said.

But another FAO report said biotechnology and GM crops have enormous potential for improving the lives of poor farmers and poor consumers, but they should not be viewed as the perfect solution to the developing world’s agricultural problems.