China could become an agriculture biotechnology leader in the next couple of years.

"China's use of ag-biotech is substantial in this global biotechnology revolution," said Dr Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Davis.

Alfen was speaking at the 16th National Agricultural Biotechnology Council (NABC), which ended Tuesday.

The three-day event, held at the University of Guelph in Canada, is one of the world's pre-eminent agricultural biotechnology conferences. It touches on issues emerging from the development of ag-biotech, ecological systems, life quality and food health and safety concerns.

China's  large population represents a potential market to take advantage of agricultural biotechnology advances.

In the past decade, China has seen a double-digit increase rate in adoption of new agriculture bio-technologies, Alfen said. It has the fastest adoption pace in Asia and one of the fastest among developing countries.

China planted 700,000 hectares of transgenic cotton three years ago. That figure has now jumped to 2.8 million hectares, ranking 5th in the world. Only the United States, Argentina, Canada and Brazil, at 42.8 million, 13.9 million, 4.4 million and 3.0 million hectares were ahead by the end of 2003.

"China will take the lead in the next five years," said Robert Wager, professor with Malaspina University.

Ninety percent of Chinese farmers are small producers who grow one or two hectares of land. The number compares with some thousands of hectares per farmer in the United States.

Still, China has successfully planted transgenic cotton varieties.

Known as Bt (bacillus thuringiensis) cotton, the variety helps deal with pests that can mean huge losses for farmers.

While pushing ahead on cotton, however, China is taking a conservative approach to corn and soybeans.

Delegates from developing and developed countries backed the importance of research.

Still, opinions are divided but "hunger" tops the list of pros to quicken the development of ag-biotechnology.

At the same time, the imbalance of research input and importance attached to bio-technology divides rich and poor countries.

Kanayo Nwanze, director general of the Africa Rice Center complaints that "little research has been done on sub-Saharan crops so far."

Dr Klaus Ammann, with Switzerland-based University of Bern, told China Daily that China is progressive in establishing institutes and using talents in recent years.

(China Daily June 16, 2004)