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Drought Takes Toll on Transgenic Soy |
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Genetically
modified soybeans proved to be the weakest variety in withstanding
drought in Brazil. In some areas, as much as 80 percent of the transgenic
crop was lost.
RIO DE JANEIRO - Drought in southern Brazil
dramatically reduced this year's soybean harvest in Rio Grande do
Sul state -- and added fuel to the heated national debate on the
production of transgenic crops.
Genetically modified varieties, which are the majority in soybean
production in this southern state, suffered greater losses than
conventional seed varieties, admitted local growers.
That is to be expected because transgenic seeds are smuggled into
Brazil from Argentina and are not intended for the local climate,
so proved less resistant to the water shortage, explains Narciso
Barison, president of APASSUL, a state association of seed producers
and marketers.
The conventional varieties, developed by national agencies, certified
and adapted to the region, had better results. The differences in
crop loss varied according to the conditions of each field, reaching
''a maximum of 25 percent,'' he said.
The U.S.-based agribusiness giant Monsanto, which developed a soybean
resistant to its glyphosate herbicide -- thus increasing potential
sales of both products -- rejects the comparison of its transgenic
variety with the local conventional varieties.
''The intensity of the drought does not allow us to verify differences
in yields,'' said Ricardo Miranda, Monsanto development director.
''No soybean variety can withstand that level of hydric stress,''
which in some areas caused losses of 80 percent of the crop, he
said.
There are two more factors, according to Miranda, that determine
better performance of transgenics in drought conditions: the GM
variety facilitates and promotes direct planting -- no need for
tilling so the soil retains more moisture -- and allows greater
control of weeds, which otherwise compete with the crop for the
scarce water available.
The drought that has dragged on for five months in Rio Grande do
Sul is harshly punishing soybeans, which are cultivated primarily
in October and November.
The governmental rural technical assistance and extension agency,
EMATER, calculated a 61 percent decline in the average yield of
soybean fields in the state, falling from an expected 2,007 kilograms
per hectare to just 782. As such, the predicted 8.3 million tons
of soybeans from the harvest will be only around 3.2 million tons.
Monsanto's RR (Roundup Ready) soy seed began to be smuggled into
the state almost 10 years ago, and its presence grew to 80 percent
of the total area planted with soy, according to assessments that
for obvious reasons cannot be exact.
In the last two years, faced with fait accompli, the government
tried to grant temporary legal status to the banned transgenic soy
through a court ruling made in 1999.
Now, with the Biosecurity Act approved by the Brazilian Congress
on Mar. 2, a definitive solution is sought for the legal uncertainties
surrounding the use of biotechnology in agriculture in this country.
Clandestine cultivation of GM seed and the legal confusion of recent
years produced a critical situation for soy seed producers in Rio
Grande do Sul. The local companies were pushed out of the market
by the growing presence of transgenic seed, which they themselves
could not legally produce.
Now that the drought has ''proved'' the advantages of the varieties
created for the local climate and soil conditions, there should
be a race by the soy farmers for certified Brazilian seed, but there
are not enough stocks to supply the market, said Barison.
The multiplication of transgenic seed to cover cultivation throughout
Rio Grande do Sul state would require three years, and the conventional
(non-GM) varieties are currently insufficient as a result of the
low demand in recent years.
As a result, soy production in Rio Grande do Sul, which provided
more than 15 percent of national output, will take some years to
recover its previous volume. For the next planting season farmers
will have to use their own seed, of low quality worsened by the
drought.
''It is an opportunity for a deeper debate on the country's agricultural
development model,'' said Altermir Tortello, coordinator of Fetraf-Sur,
a federation of family farmers in the southern region, and member
of the government's food security and economic and social development
agencies.
In his opinion, the drought ''has been a big lesson,'' not only
about the transgenic issue, but also about monoculture.
The so-called ''green revolution'', begun in the 1970s in Brazil
with widespread mechanization of farms, over-use of chemical inputs
and focus on a limited number of crops for export, is one of the
causes of the current drought in the south, or at least contributed
to worsening its impacts, says Tortello.
The green revolution model was implemented with widespread deforestation,
drainage of wetlands and intensive use of water supplies, throwing
ecosystems out of equilibrium, he said. In Rio Grande do Sul, ''one
can travel hundreds of kilometers without seeing any forest, only
soy fields.''
Small farmers who were attracted to monoculture of soybeans because
it seemed to be a ''goldmine'', have now gone bankrupt, says Tortello,
who advocates ''a change in the model'' in favor of crop diversification,
which would also foster environmental and social sustainability.
Transgenics strengthen and intensify the monoculture export model,
which concentrates land ownership in the hands of a few, pushes
out and impoverishes small farmers and furthermore degrades the
environment, he said.
Barison, meanwhile, defends the free marketing of transgenics so
that farmers can choose the variety that is most convenient for
them. In his opinion, the soybean farmers in the south ''are paying
for the risk they assumed'' when they planted illegal GM soy, and
that the losses were not due to the genetic modification, but rather
to inappropriate seed.
Several agricultural technology companies, including the state-run
Embrapa, developed transgenic varieties with strong yields, incorporating
the gene from Monsanto's Roundup Ready which includes resistance
to glyphosate herbicide.
Miranda believes that if the Brazilian Biosecurity Act enters into
force in the form in which Congress approved it, there will be rapid
expansion of transgenic crops because of the high demand by farmers.
* Mario Osava is an IPS correspondent.
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