Two varieties of transgenic sugarcane produced in Brazil were approved by the Ministry of Agriculture of China on the 13th of January. They are CTC20Bt and CTC9001Bt, which were developed by the Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira (CTC) and have 100% national technology.

“CTC is the first Brazilian company to develop an agricultural biotechnology product that gets approval from China,” says Silvia Yokoyama, director of Regulatory and Governmental Affairs at CTC.

According to Silvia, CTC was able to approve its Bt canes in less than four years, a relatively short period if compared to other transgenic products evaluated by the Ministry of Agriculture of China.

The two Bt canes are resistant to the borer. The use of this technology provides gains to the Brazilian sugarcane fields by contributing to the control of the pest that brings annual losses of R$ 5 billion.

(Source: JornalCana)