• • Kenya workshop
• • Brazil workshop
• • Vietnam workshop

Phase I workshop in Vietnam: Case Study Bt Cotton

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from April 1 to April 5 2004

The third project workshop in Vietnam assessed the case study of VIP3A / Bt cotton using the developed frameworks. The groups were able to improve the analysis methodologies and at the same time come up with concrete proposals that can feed directly into the planning of a Vietnamese biosafety assessment of Bt cotton in relation to possible agronomic and environmental consequences. The groups wrote short reports during the workshop and are now working on expanded reports with the aim of publishing them in the future in both Vietnam and internationally.

Some key findings

In Vietnam, Bt cotton could cross easily with two cultivated Gossypium species but to a much lesser extent with the third Gossypium species; it is possible that Bt cotton will be grown in close proximity to all these species somewhere in Vietnam. There is evidence of unattended feral cotton populations, which could be recipients of gene flow from Bt cotton, but these have never been systematically surveyed.

In Vietnam, the key Lepidoptera at risk of developing resistance to Bt cotton areHelicoverpa armigera, Spodoptera exigua and Pectinophora gossypiella. The analysis focused on irrigated cotton, particularly in the dry season in the Central region, and included modelling of the crop patterns of cotton and crops that are alternative hosts for the two high priority species. Again a strong recommendation was to deploy Bt cotton with two Bt proteins as a first component of resistance management.

opening the workshop

thinking about soil biodiversity