MANILA, Philippines–Crop biotechnology has significantly reduced the amount of chemical pesticide spraying worldwide by 474 million kilograms, or 9 percent, over the past 15 years, according to a report by PG Economics, a UK-based advisory and consultancy services provider specializing on plant biotechnology, agricultural production systems, agricultural markets and policy.
The reduction is equivalent to the total amount of pesticide active ingredient applied to arable land in member countries of the European Union over a period of one-and-a-half crop years, the report noted.
“As a result, this has decreased the environmental impact associated with herbicide and insecticide use on the area planted to biotech crops by 18.1 percent,” the PG Economics report said.
Modern agriculture biotechnology has allowed the development of crop varieties with built-in resistance to traditional pests. Due to their natural ability to fight pests, such crop varieties no longer require the massive application of chemical pesticides.
The report also pointed out that “crop biotechnology has contributed to significantly reducing the release of greenhouse emissions from agricultural practices.”
“This is due to the reduced use of fuel and additional soil carbon storage from reduced tillage with biotech crop varieties,” it said. “In 2011, this was equivalent to removing 23 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or equal to removing 10.2 million cars from the road for one year.”
Since 1996, the total amount of harvested biotech crops has topped four billion acres or 1.6 billion hectares or an area 1.5 times the size of Europe or nearly as big as South America.
The PG Economics annual global impact report quantifies the effects of agricultural biotechnology on the environment and on farmer incomes since the commercialization of biotech crop varieties in 1996. –Philippine Daily Inquirer
Read more: http://business.inquirer.net/180433/global-pesticides-use-down-as-biotech-crop-adoption-rises-study-shows#ixzz3HKFTx6MH
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
