Print This PageBiotechnology Around the World
Global Map of Biotech Crop Countries and Mega-Countries in 2008
Since 1996 when the first commercial biotech crops were planted, the technology has become the fastest ever adopted in agriculture. In 2008 the global area planted to biotech increased by almost 10 % from 2007 to reach 125 million hectares. This is a 74-fold hectare increase since 1996.
In its annual study, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) – www.isaaa.org found that in 2008, 13.3 million farmers in a record 25 countries planted biotech crops; an increase of 1.3 million from the year before.
90% were small and resource-poor farmers from developing countries. Most notably, in 2008 biotech farming began in the African nations of Egypt and Burkina Faso. They join South Africa, which since 1998 has benefitted from biotech cotton, corn and soybean.
The 2 billionth cumulative acre of biotech crops was also planted in 2008, just three years after the first billionth acre, a milestone which required a decade to reach.
You can read the whole report here:
http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/39/executivesummary/default.html
