This is the VOA SpecialEnglish AGRICULTURE REPORT.
Increasing numbers of farmers are growing genetically engineeredcrops. A new report also says that the total land area where suchcrops are grown is increasing. The International Service for theAcquisition of Agri-biotech Applications reported the findings. Thegroup supports the use of agricultural technology in developingcountries.
Genetic engineering is the technology of changing the genes ofliving things. Genes are parts of cells that control growth anddevelopment. A changed gene directs a plant or other organism to dothings it normally does not do. For example, a plant may begenetically engineered to resist insects.
There is plenty of conflictinginformation about genetically engineered crops. The InternationalService for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications supportsgrowing such crops in developing countries. So do the United NationsDevelopment Program and other groups.
However, critics of genetic engineering say the technology is athreat to human health and the environment.
The new report estimates that farmers grew genetically engineeredcrops on more than fifty-two-million hectares of farmland last year.That represents an increase in land area of nineteen percentcompared to the year before.
The report estimates that more than five-million farmers grewgenetically engineered crops in thirteen countries last year. Fourcountries grew ninety-nine percent of all genetically engineeredcrops last year. The United States grew sixty-eight percent of theworld total. Argentina grew twenty-two percent. Canada was next withsix percent. China had three percent.
The report says soybeans were the most common geneticallyengineered crop. They were grown on thirty-three-million hectares offarmland. Other common genetically engineered crops were corn,cotton and canola.
In a separate development, scientists report that geneticmaterial from genetically engineered plants can spread across greatdistances to native plants. The scientists say the genes were foundin wild corn growing in the mountains of southern Mexico. Thefinding is most unusual because the Mexican government has bannedthe planting of genetically engineered corn sinceNineteen-Ninety-Eight.
This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by GeorgeGrow.