Biotechnology, the safe way forward

September, 2007 - Since the release of genetically modified (GM) cultivars in South Africa in 1998, there has been a steady increase in the number of hectares of these cultivars planted, giving the South African farmer first-hand experience of the excellent insect- and weed-control provided by this technology.

Sales of the past eight years further reflect farmers' satisfaction with the products. About 40% of all maize grown in South Africa comprises YieldGard or Roundup Ready GM maize, while more than 80% of the cotton planted in this country is of the GM variety.

Monsanto is at the forefront of biotechnological development, and the milestones reached during the past nine years included the release of Roundup Ready soybeans, Roundup Ready cotton and Roundup Ready maize, as well as the stack-gene cotton released in 2005.

The stack-gene maize has also been approved recently, offering maize farmers superb insect and weed control - both in one product!

For the first time, Monsanto were also given permission to start testing the much debated drought-gene under South African weather conditions.

As part of Monsanto's product-stewardship policy, the company and other companies that have access to Monsanto's technology will continue to work closely together to ensure that all the requirements - as stipulated in the technology agreement - are strictly met. The planting of refuge areas by farmers using GM cultivars is of the utmost importance in protecting this technology.

Monsanto is of the opinion that South African farms are run by top businesspeople to whom high yields and products of exceptional quality are essential. With their top technological products, which perform splendidly in national independent trials, along with world-class plants and facilities, Monsanto is dedicated to assist these farmers even further in making the right decisions and reaching their goals.

Monsanto is focussed on biotechnology in top genetics such as the leading South African white-maize cultivar, DKC 78-15B, as well as DKC 80-12B, which is the leading yellow-maize cultivar. Both these hybrids contain the YieldGard gene that controls stalk-borer.