October 31, 2014
Vietnam to start growing GMO corn soon to feed more pigs
Vietnam will soon start growing genetically modified corn to increase local feed supply in line with the country''s plan to expand pork production.
In August, the government approved four traits of GMO corn, supplied by a local unit of the US-based Monsanto Co., the world''s largest seed company, for food and feed use. Two of these traits are set for commercialisation once regulatory requirements are met, Businessweek magazine quoted Dekalb Vietnam Co., Monsanto''s local subsidiary, as saying.
A Monsanto trait resistant to insects has been issued a bio-safety certificate by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The other, a herbicide-resistant trait, is in the final stage of getting one, a Dekalb spokesman told the magazine.
Dekalb has to meet other regulatory requirements such as field trials and a review by a third party, the spokesman said. The process will probably take at least six months and the products should be ready for sale late next year or in 2016, he said.
An insatiable demand for pork, which has grown 80% in the last decade, has been driving Vietnam''s spiralling corn imports.
This year, the country expects to import 4.5 million tonnes of corn, up more than 50% than the previous year''s 2.19 million tonnes – or more than four times its 2011 imports of 972,000 tonnes.
Most of these year''s corn imports will come from Argentina and Brazil. Both countries already grow GMO corn.
"We''ve imported US and South American corn and there must have been gene-modified grain in those shipments," said Le Ba Lich, president of the Vietnam Animal Feed Association in Hanoi. "It makes sense to start producing it here."