By Melody M. Aguiba, Manila Bulletin via SEAMEO SEARCA

The commercialization in three years of the genetically-modified Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton marks the revival of the local cotton industry that largely depends on import for its sustenance.

After two years of going through import procedures for Bt cotton seeds to be shipped from China, the Philippines will finally be able to conduct field testings on the Bt cotton where authorities bank their hope on displacing the country’s yearly P2.4-billion cotton lint imports and raising farmers’ yield and income.

"Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) already approved the import permit for the seeds. We have settled problems on translating technical documents into the English language," said Dr. Candido B. Damo, chief agriculturist of the Cotton Development Administration (CODA).

From a high production rate of 14,400 metric tons (MT) in 1992, the country’s cotton lint output dropped significantly to an average of 1,174 MT during the last 10 years (1996 to 2005) owing to several factors mainly the lack of solution to the highly-infesting bollworm.

Production accounts now for just five percent of total demand. The pest’s plague can cause destruction of 25 to 90 percent of yield or equivalent to 250 to 900 kilos per hectare.

At present, there are no cotton varieties or their wild relatives that have genes resistant to this pest that may be used to develop a hybrid cotton. But with genetic modification, a gene resistant to these lepidopterous pests from a naturally-occuring bacteria found in the soil called "kurstaki" has been successfully transfered to cotton to enable the cotton plant to resist the pest.

Bt cotton is thus able to give a substantially higher yield by around 20 percent while at the same time cutting farmers’ cost of production. Cost cutting comes from reduced use of chemical insecticides as spraying is cut from 10 to 12 times to just one to two times in a season or savings of P12,000 per hectare. Very important, less spraying also saves the environment and farmers’ health.

A study of the University of the Philippines-Los Banos (UPLB) as commissioned by the Department of Agriculture’s Biotechnology Program predicts farmers’ adoption of Bt cotton will at once rise to 50 percent of all cotton farmers on the first year, 75 percent on the second, and 80 to 100 percent on the third.

"Majority of farmers consider bollworm as the primary reason for low yield and high cost. If a technology addresses this, they will be very receptive to it," said the UPLB.

From 2008 to 2009, Bt cotton is targeted to be planted on a total of 24,611 hectares all over the Philippines, a multiple growth over the average area of 3,594 hectares for 10 years up to 2004.

The farms will be in Ilocos Norte, 534 hectares; La Union, 507 hectares; Pangasinan, 1,705 hectares; Iloilo, 837 hectares; Negros Orirntal, 1,849 hectares; Saranggani, 5,360 hectares; South Cotabato, 4,883 hectares; Davao del Sur, 290 hectares; Sultan Kudarat, 1,440 hectares; North Cotabato, 4,075 hectares; Maguindanao, 1,640 hectares; Zamboanga del Sur, 200 hectares; and Bukidnon, 96 hectares.

An important advantage for Bt cotton is its good cotton lint quality which can equal or surpass fiber properties of a check variety called UPLC-2.

CODA is conducting initially a screenhouse testing of Bt cotton in its research and development (R&D) center in Batac, Ilocos Norte and in experimental fields at the Philippine Rice Research Institute. It needs three croppings (once a year) for the trials and will use Bt cotton seeds of the Biocentury Transgene Inc. of China.

It is estimated that the R&D will cost P6.2 million from adaptability evaluation, establishment of multi-locational demonstration farms, and compliance with biosafety regulations.

R&D also includes evaluation of the GM cotton’s fiber, Bt cotton’s effect on non-target organisms (natural insect enemies of bollworms), effect of the Bt toxin in the agro-system, and the establishment of an insect resistance management.

Considered world’s principal fiber, cotton production worldwide is worth $ 20 billion for 20 million metric tons (MT) yearly. The Philippines imports its cotton from Pakistan, Australia, and the United States.

In countries that adopted Bt cotton, average yield increased from 11 to 65 percent while pesticide cost declined by 67 percent in China, 58 percent in South Africa, and 41 percent in India.

Some 25,000 large-scale farmers in the US and Australia and a more numerous four to five million resource-poor farmers in China and South Africa obtained economic, health, and social benefits from the technology. Farmers in China experienced increased net income of $ 500 per hectare from the technology while farmers in Indonesia raised yield to 2.2 MT per hectare from the 0.92 MT without the Bt genes in cotton.

The Philippines had an average of 2,420 farmers in the country for the last 10 years.

With the Bt cotton, farmers can still earn handsomely from planting cotton since cotton price has risen to an average of P18.23 over the last 10 years from a low of P10.35 per kilo in 1993.