The approval of the genetically modified (GM) rice in China may lead to the same propagation of GM rice in the Philippines even as local hybrid rice firms may also later engage this high-yielding rice technology here.

International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) Global Coordinator Randy A. Hautea said the approval of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) rice in China augurs well for the development of GM rice in the Philippines.

He said though that another two years of field trial on a specific rice variety will have to be conducted on China’s Bt rice even after the approval of the GM rice in November this year.

The approval of the GM stem borer-resistant rice in China has the potential to raise $4 billion in revenue yearly from an average yield increase of eight percent and an 80 percent decrease in insecticide use.

“Rice is the most important crop in the world. The approval of Bt rice in China may likely help encourage our own biotech research,” said Hautea.

Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) officials said local hybrid rice companies may actually bring in the Bt rice technology in the country.

But while SL Agritech Corp. (SLAC) has brought in Chinese technology in local hybrid rice, SLAC Chairman Henry Lim Bon Liong said the company is not likely to go into GM rice in the near term since there is still so much room for the hybrid rice technology in the country yet.