Costs of Developing GM Potatoes Comparable to Conventional Varieties

The cost of developing GM potato varieties is in fact not a great deal more than for conventionally-bred varieties, according to a study published in the International Journal of Biotechnology.

The study disproves the belief that releasing a GM crop costs tens, if not hundreds, of millions of US dollars. The study assessed the cost and time for developing a GM late blight resistant (LBr) potato variety for deregulation and release as a public good, in a specific developing country.

Two not-for-profit, independently-assessed projects have estimated that the delivery of one LBr variety to resource-poor farmers in a developing country would cost between USD1.3-1.5m, and would need a period of eight to nine years. Such costs are not very different from those of a conventionally-bred variety. Until now, publicly-funded institutions have been deterred from developing biotech crops due to the cost implications attached to the process of developing and releasing a GM variety. These findings therefore suggest that public institutions in developing countries can make a significant contribution to crop improvements through genetic engineering.

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