Current status of Global Commercial cultivation of genetically modified crops in 2018 (excerpted version)

1 shared compilation | Chen Ruwei

On 22 August, the International Association for the Application and Promotion of Agricultural Biotechnology (ISAAA) released the annual report on the status of Global Commercial cultivation of GM crops in 2018. Since the first commercial cultivation of GM crops in 1996, the planting area has increased from 1.7 million hectares to 191.7 million hectares in 2018, an increase of 1.9 million hectares compared with 189.8 million hectares in 2017, an increase of about 1 per cent.

If Taiwan's area is 3619300 hectares, the global planting area of GM crops in 2018 will be about 53 Taiwan.

There are 26 countries growing GM crops, compared with 24 countries in 2017, there are two more countries, such as Indonesia and the Kingdom of Swadini, of which the top five countries are the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and India, accounting for a total of about 91%.

In terms of crop projects, the planting area of GM soybeans is 95.9 million hectares, accounting for 50% of the global planting area of GM crops, 58.9 million hectares of GM corn, accounting for 30.7%, and 24.8 million hectares of GM cotton, accounting for 13%. GM rape is 11 million hectares, or 5.3%, while other GM beets, papaya, eggplant, alfalfa, summer pumpkin, potatoes, apples and sugar cane account for about 1%. (for information from 2014 to 2018, please see: https://wp.me/p5NVQR-cf5)

In terms of genetic modification characteristics, it can be divided into three categories: "herbicide resistance", "insect resistance" and "compound (multi-resistance)", accounting for 46%, 12% and 42%, respectively. It is worth noting that from the data in 2014, the proportion of simple insect resistance has not changed much, but the proportion of GM crops with the compound characteristics of "herbicide tolerance and insect resistance" has increased year by year, while the proportion of crops with only herbicide resistance has gradually decreased. (for information from 2014 to 2018, please see: https://wp.me/p5NVQR-cfe)