The HB4 variety is significantly more resistant to drought thanks to the introgression of a gene from the sunflower.
Indonesia has approved for human and animal use the genetically modified cereal HB4, developed by the Argentine company Bioceres and the group of scientists from the Instituto de Agrobiotecnologia del Litoral (belonging to CONICET, Argentina), the Indonesian authorities reported on Tuesday in a statement. .
The Asian country is one of the largest importers of wheat worldwide and the main export destination for Argentine wheat after Brazil, which legalized the cultivation, production and marketing of this transgenic cereal on March 3, after “a rigorous review process”, highlights Bioceres .
🇮🇩 Happy to announce that Indonesia has approved HB4®️ Wheat for human and animal use. The Asian country is one of the main importers of this cereal globally according to the @BCRpress and the main export destination for Argentine wheat after Brazil. pic.twitter.com/hUIp1R3lcf
— Bioceres Group (@grupobioceres) March 15, 2023
In the 2021-2022 campaign, Brazil and Indonesia received together 4.1 million tons of Argentine wheat, according to data from the Rosario Stock Exchange, collected by the local press.
With this measure, the Asian nation joined the list of countries in favor of this Argentine technology that increases Wheat tolerance to drought conditionsreducing yield losses due to water deficit thanks to the introgression of a sunflower gene.
This advance is added to the recent approval of Brazil for the commercialization and production of HB4® Wheat and to the list of approvals in countries such as Nigeria, Australia, Colombia, USA. One more example of the quality, talent and enormous potential of the #CienciaArgentinaAlMundo 🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/iKS936HNJM
— Bioceres Group (@grupobioceres) March 15, 2023
“The HB4 gene is key in the adaptation of our agricultural systems to a more extreme climate, and has shown performance increases of more than 40% in environments with severe water stress, according to the results obtained in the last harvest in Argentina,” announced Bioceres.
Among the nations that have welcomed this variety of wheat are the US, New Zealand, Australia, Colombia, as well as African countries.
Source: RT
