Pork demand spurs Vietnam to grow genetically-modified corn

Hanoi

VIETNAM plans to sow genetically-modified (GM) crops for the first time as demand for corn to fatten hogs expands in the country where pork consumption climbed 80 per cent in the past decade.

The Ministry of Agriculture approved four traits for food and feed use in August. Dekalb Vietnam Co, a unit of St Louis, Missouri-based Monsanto Co, the world's largest seed company, expects to commercialise two of them as soon as regulatory requirements are met, said Nguyen Hong Chinh, head of corporate affairs, last Wednesday.