Le Ba Lich, chairman of the Vietnam Animal Feed Association, told VnExpress that Vietnam has imported four million tons of corn so far this year, 80% of them GMO, and so growing GMO crops in the country would save money spent on imports.
The corn cultivation area in Vietnam is still small and the output only meets half of animal feed businesses’ demand of eight to ten million tons a year.
“The expansion of GMO corn fields with high yields and pesticide resistance should be supported,” he told VnExpress.
But he warned that GMO seeds could only be bought from foreign companies, which can cause a “monopoly.”
So government should support research to produce competitive varieties in Vietnam to reduce the dependence on foreign supplies, he said.
More importantly, he also warned that Vietnam could lose several export markets since animals fed entirely with GMO products are not accepted in Japan and European countries.
Source: Geneticliteracyproject.org
