Is China’s attitude to genetically modified crops changing?
A loosening of restrictions may be in the offing
Three decades ago, when it allowed the commercial production of virus-resistant tobacco plants, China was on the cutting edge of genetic modification in agriculture. Back then there was heady talk of growing most of the country’s rice, wheat and maize using genetically modified (GM) strains by 2010. That did not happen. But China’s supreme leader, Xi Jinping, renewed the optimism in 2013, when he argued that GM crops were needed to ensure the country’s food supply. An official five-year planning document issued in 2016 called for commercial production of GM maize and soyabeans to begin by the end of 2019. That did not happen either.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Policy maize”
From the February 25th 2023 edition
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