UPDATE1-Brazil faces major GM soy battle - industry
www.alertnet.org 07 Mar 2003 23:54 (Adds comments from Abiove president, environment minister) By Peter Blackburn
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, March 7 (Reuters) - Brazil is running out of time to find a legal way of marketing illegally grown soybeans in 2003 and faces a major fight in enforcing the ban next year, soy analysts, producers and traders said on Friday.
Environmental groups praised the new center-left government's decision on Thursday to uphold a ban on commercial planting of genetically modified (GM) crops.
But with the soybean harvest well under way in many states, analysts said, the government decision came late and failed to resolve the problem.
"It's a lamentable step backward," said Andre Pessoa, director of Florianopolis-based Agroconsult, noting that the previous government had tried to legalize GM crops.
Pessoa said Brazilian farmers will be unable take advantage of the cost benefit of GM soy and become less competitive in export markets. They will also miss out on markets opening up for GM soy varieties.
Researchers estimate that GM soybeans achieve a 30 percent cost saving because less herbicide and pesticide are needed.
Soy is Brazil's main farm export, worth $6 billion in 2002, according to official figures. Brazil, the world's No. 2 soy exporter, is rapidly catching up to the United States.
China, Brazil's major soybean export market, aggravated the GM problem when it demanded that Brazil issue certificates showing that shipments were safe even if they contained illegal GM material. Exports continue under a temporary deal until Sept. 20.
Greenpeace genetics campaigner Mariana Paoli welcomed the government decision, made in Brasilia by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and nine ministers.
"The new government recognizes there is a problem and that stricter controls are needed to prevent GM crops being planted," Paoli said.
Environment Minister Marina Silva told reporters the government planned to put an end to illegal plantings as soon as possible. The government acted out of precaution rather than prejudice against GM products, she said.
"We need to define measures so that the 2004 harvest does not suffer the same problem.... We want a clean soy production next year," she said, adding that the government had enough "clean" seeds. "Nothing justifies opting for transgenic soy."
She said it would be best to export existing transgenic crops to the countries that consume such products.
RAGE IN RIO GRANDE DO SUL
But farmers and state government officials were furious in Brazil's No. 3 soy producer Rio Grande do Sul, where illegal GM soy planting is most prevalent.
The president of the Rio Grande do Sul Agricultural Federation (Farsul), Carlos Sperotto, said farmers rejected discrimination against the Rio Grande soy crop, or moves to segregate GM and non-GM soy, claiming such moves would raise costs and lower profits.
Rio Grande soy farmers plan to demonstrate in Brasilia on March 12.
"The fight for free planting of GM soy continues," said Rio Grande State Agricultural Secretary Odacyr Klein.
However the president of the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oils Industries (Abiove) was optimistic a solution could be found by May.
"The soy industry is one of the few things which is working well. It's a good orchestra and too important to lose," said Abiove President Carlo Lovatelli, adding that he expected soy exports to rise to $7.8 billion in 2003.
Lovatelli said the government was signaling flexibility over the GM issue with its intent to find a legal way of marketing the 6 million tonnes of GM soy planted in Rio Grande.
"It's no surprise the environment minister wants more information," he said, warning however that time is running out as harvesting is about to start in Rio Grande.
The government estimates that 8 percent of the Rio Grande crop is genetically modified, but market sources say the figure is closer to 70 percent or 80 percent.
"It would be war if the government tries to stamp out GM soy," warned Agroconsult's Pessoa.