Vietnam has approved the importation of several
genetically-modified (GM) corn varieties and left it to the environment
ministry to decide whether to plant the controversial crops on a massive
scale.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on August 11
authorized four corn varieties for food and animal feed
processing—namely, MON 89034 and NK603 , produced by Dekalb Vietnam (a
subsidiary of US mega-corporation Monsanto) and Bt 11 and MIR 162 from
the Swiss firm Syngenta.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment must issue a
bio-safety certificate before farmers can start commercially cultivating
the crops, which are banned in Europe and China.
It remains unclear when that decision will be made. But given the current political landscape, it seems unlikely that the ministry will do anything but give the approval.
The quick push toward GMO
In 2006, the government drafted an ambitious plan to develop GM
crops as part of a “major program for the development and application of
biotechnology in agriculture and rural development.”
The plan aimed to cultivate Vietnam's first GM crops by 2015 and
have 30-50 percent of the country’s farmland covered with genetically
modified organisms (GMOs) by 2020.
An increasing number of Vietnamese officials and scientists have
touted the need to grow GM corn to reduce Vietnam’s dependence on
imports. The country currently imports 1.5 million tons of corn for
animal feed every year from Brazil, Argentina, and the US, including GM
varieties, according to the agriculture ministry.
Le Huy Ham, director of the Institute of Agricultural Genetics, was
quoted by Nong Nghiep Vietnam (Vietnam Agriculture) newspaper as saying
that the license to use the four aforesaid GM maize varieties would
pave the way for the mass cultivation of GM crops in Vietnam.
“The agriculture ministry is increasingly determined to realize its [GM crop-growing] plan soon,” Ham said.
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