China is on the road to sufficiency in rice and corn and it bodes well for the world market long bothered by lower output and the reduction of the grain supply for export to rice-deficit countries.

Dr. Clive James, founder and chairman of the non-stock, non-profit International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) said Beijing made a giant step in November 2009 when it issued biosafety certificates for biotech insect-resistant rice and phytase corn.

Rice is consumed by half of humanity while corn is the single biggest feed crop on the planet. Corn is consumed by livestock, poultry and other animals.

With the issuance of such certificates, James said China would be most likely cultivate these biotech rice and corn varieties after the standard two and three years of standard registration field trials before commercialization.

The Philippines ranks 11th among countries that grow biotech crops, principally corn.

“With last year’s food crisis, price spikes, and hunger and malnutrition afflicting more than one billion people for the first time ever, there has been a global shift from efforts for just food security to food self-sufficiency,” James added.

“With a current population of 1.3 billion, biotech crops are a critical component for China and other countries to gain self-sufficiency,” he explained.

Currently the world’s biggest rice producing country, China had long been bothered by the dreaded rice borer, which the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) variety would combat. Bt rice can raise yields by eight percent, reduce pesticide use by 80 percent or 17 kilos per hectare and generate $4 billion in benefits annually.

“This would have a direct and extensive increase on the prosperity of about 440 million Chinese who rely on rice production,” said Dr. Dafang Huang, former director at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.