Viet Nam will start to grow genetically modified corn, which will be the first ever biotech product grown in the country if experimental cultivation yields positive results in 2011, says Trinh Van Hung, Director of the Science and Technology Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

“Genetically modified or biotech corn has been successfully grown on a small scale in Van Giang District, Hai Hung Province and Long Thanh District, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province in 2010,” Hung said at a conference on global perspective of genetically modified crops yesterday in Ha Noi.

Corn was one of the three plants, along with cotton and soybean plants, that the agriculture and rural development ministry said could be cultivated in Viet Nam.

The cultivation of genetically modified corn is in line with the Government’s Decision 11, which concerns investing in advanced biological technologies in the agricultural sector.

Hung said that the agriculture ministry would soon draft instructions concerning the use of genetically modified products in Viet Nam.

According to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), about 1 billion hectares in 29 countries worldwide in 2010 grew genetically modified crops.

A record 15.4 million farmers grew biotech crops. More than 90 per cent of them were poor farmers in developing countries.

Source: VNS