by Somporn Thapanachai, Bangkok Post via Checkbiotech

Bio-science with a focus on production of hybrid seeds for cotton, canola and rice will become an essential part of the research and development (R&D) programme at Bayer CropScience, according to company executives.

Bernward Garthoff, a member of the board of management supervising R&D, said the company had shifted its R&D budget toward bio-science which includes the development of both genetically modified (GM) and non-GM seeds for agricultural crops and vegetables.

Last year, the company set up its Plant Biotechnology Innovation Centre in Ghent, Belgium to enhance its capacity in handling complex plant biotechnology projects.

Bayer CropScience already holds a 24% share of the hybrid cotton market in the United States, a 28% share of the hybrid canola market in Canada and a 30% share of the hybrid rice market in India.

The hybrid rice varieties, which offer superior yields, stability and taste quality, were introduced in India under the Arize trademark in 2002 but the company's varieties have been available in the South Asian country since the late 1990s. The products were introduced in the Philippines in 2002 and are slated to be offered in Indonesia and Brazil this year.

Dr Garthoff said the company planned to bring its non-GM hybrid rice seeds to Thailand in 2009 as it needed a certain period of time to test the products to make sure that they were suited to the local environment.

''Normally, farmers would expect a 10-15% increase in yield so we have to go beyond that,'' said Dr Garthoff, who anticipates that hybrid rice will be successful, similar to hybrid cotton and hybrid canola.

Bayer's hybrid rice seeds will face competition from the Charoen Pokphand Group. The Thai company plans to introduce hybrid rice seeds that produced very high yields of 1.5 to two tonnes per rai in experimental fields, or more than double the yield of normally harvested rice in irrigated cultivation areas in Thailand.

Besides biotechnology, Bayer CropScience also will focus on developing new products of better quality in what is classified as the crop protection group, which includes the creation of active ingredients, new insecticides, herbicide and fungicide formulations as well as seed treatments.

Overall, the company will be able to reduce its annual R&D spending by reducing the duplication resulting from the acquisition of Aventis CropScience in 2003.

Dr Garthoff said though the budget would be cut, Bayer CropScience would continue to be the leader in R&D as it had set aside a budget that was still over 10% of sales.

Researching a new product normally takes about eight to 10 years and involves an investment of around 300 million euros for a global product, or at least 150 million euros for a local product, according to Dr Edward Hellpointner, laboratory leader of Bayer's Institute of Metabolism and Environmental Fate.

The company has to screen around 70,000 substances to get some active ingredients that could be developed into a formulation for a crop protection product.

During the process, a developed formulation must be tested for retention, penetration and translocation into the target. After that, products must also be tested for toxicology toward animal and the environment before being registered.

Bayer CropScience, a subsidiary of Bayer AG with annual sales of about six billion euros, is represented in more than 120 countries and has a global workforce of 19,400 in 2004, down from 22,000 in June 2002.

© Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2005