Cautious approach is costly for China's crops

In the 1990s when global studies on genetically modified food were on the rise, China led the way both in terms of its use and research.

In 1996, China's acreage of GM crops was second only to the United States', accounting for 39 per cent of the global total. That year, the US grew 51 per cent - or 1.5 million hectares - of the world's GM crops, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), a non-profit organisation.

But as planting acreage of such crops grew exponentially around the world, China chose to take a cautious approach.

It now grows just 6 per cent of the world's GM crops. Even so, that accounts for a whopping 11.6 million hectares of crops, namely cotton, papaya, poplar trees, tomato and sweet pepper.

Last year, a record 181.5 million hectares of GM crops were grown around the world, according to the ISAAA.

Since herbicide-resistant soybeans made their way into the market in the mid-1990s, consumers, activists and politicians, especially in Europe, have raised concerns about such food.