South Africa develops new GM potato variety
South Africa’s Agricultural Research Council (ARC) has developed a new potato variety resistant to the potato tuber moth, a major pest causing millions worth of harvest loss in major crops. According to the article, the crop is currently awaiting approval from the government. Once approved, the crop will move to farmer participatory trials under unconfined conditions and steps will be taken to prepare for commercial release. Sounds promising
C.S. Prakash
South Africa develops new GM potato variety
Tootooeub51 blog
July 15, 2008
South Africa’s Agricultural Research Council (ARC) has developed anew potato variety resistant to the potato tuber moth, a majorpests causing millions worth of harvest loss in major solanaceouscrops.
The transgenic potato SpuntaG2, developed through the support ofthe United States Agency for International development (USAID), nowawaits safety assessment and general release approval from thenational authorities.
The approval will enable the ARC to initiate farmer participatorytrials under unconfined conditions and develop a certification andlabeling system to prepare for commercial release of improvedpotato varieties.
SpuntaG2 is the first publicly-funded genetically modified crop toenter the safety approval process in South Africa.
The new variety performed well in field trials.
Environmental studies further showed that the GM crop controls thepotato tuber moth without affecting other organisms.
