Promoting Agricultural Value Chains:
In the OIC Member Countries
26
Figure 2-3 Increase of GM crop production worldwide, 2004-2014
Source: James, 2014
Of the 181.5 million hectares planted with GM crops, the great majority are in the United States
(40 percent of global GM crops), Brazil, Argentina, India and Canada. Emerging economies
have displayed particularly high growth rates in GM adoption over recent years, even
overtaking industrialised countries in 2012 as the main adopters of transgenic crops by area.
By now, more than half of the global biotech crop area of 181.5 million hectares, equivalent to
96.2 million hectares, is grown in 20 developing countries (James, 2014).
In contrast, Europe merely features 0.1 percent of global acreage of GM crops. Only one GM
crop is approved for cultivation, a Bt insect resistant maize, led by Spain with 131,538
hectares. The sluggish development in Europe is due to stringent EU regulation on the
experimentation and commercial release of GM crops owing to widespread public concerns on
the risks for human and environmental health (Baulcombe et al., 2014). Uptake in Africa has
been only little faster, but here the lack of science-based and effective regulatory systems is the
major constraint to adoption rather than public opposition (James, 2014).
It is likely that many more GM crops will be cultivated in the USA and other countries which
have supportive regulatory systems in place. In the USA, for instance, between 500-1,000 field
trial applications are approved per annum and 96 applications for commercialisation have
been approved since 1990 (Baulcombe et al., 2014). Since adoption rates in mature markets in
both developing and industrial countries are already high, predictions for future increases in
GM crops are cautiously optimistic, focusing mostly on the development of new biotech
products. Another 70 potential products are currently awaiting regulatory approval for
planting and import and could be available during the next five years (James, 2014).
2.1.7 Innovations in ICT to support value chain development
Innovations in modern information and communication technologies (ICT) have recently made
a significant breakthrough in agriculture due to the rapid spread of mobile phones, internet
and computing power. While developed countries still have higher ICT adoption rates,
developing countries are catching up quickly. Approximately 90 percent of the population in
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2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Hectares (in million) Farmers (in million)