Under a government-approved roadmap, from now to 2010 Vietnam will
experimentally grow some kinds of genetically-modified trees in laboratories
and in the field.
In 2011, the country will plant genetically-modified species of maize,
cotton and soybean on a large scale, said scientists at a workshop on the
global influence of biotechnology-enhanced plants in Hanoi.

?The productivity of each hectare of maize in Vietnam is 4.5 tonnes. If
biotechnology is applied, Vietnam?s maize productivity would increase by 28%
while the cost would fall a lot,? said Graham Brookes from the British
Economic Institute.

In Asia, genetically-modified plants have a higher yield than normal
varieties, for example 20% more for soybean, 7% for maize, 15% for cotton,
and 3% for colza. Twenty-three countries in the world allow
genetically-modified plants. Around 670 products from genetically-modified
plants are sold in 53 countries.

In Vietnam, the Agricultural Hereditary Institute has compiled a set of
rules on testing and evaluating genetically-modified plants.

Nguyen Quoc Binh, Director of the HCM City Biotechnology Centre, said the
centre will grow an anti-pesticide maize variety, a genetically-modified
plant from the Philippines, on a trial basis.

According to this centre, this kind of tree can help increase farmers?
incomes by $100/ha/crop compared to normal maize trees though the price of
seeds is $20-30/ha higher than for normal seeds.

Vietnam has more than 1 million hectares of maize and if this variety is
grown, farmers could earn an additional $100 million/crop (four months).
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