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Should Asian countries adopt GM crops despite trade regulations?

The fear of export losses has reportedly played a role in discouraging Asian countries to test and/or approve new GM food crops despite their productivity potential. Facing a tradeoff between productivity growth and export objectives, these countries are confronted with three possible alternatives: to allow the production of GM food crops with the risk of losing potential exports; to reject the commercialization of any GM food crop; or to produce both GM and non-GM crops separately at a marketing cost. The purpose of the study summarized in this brief is to provide an economic assessment of these three possible strategies, by considering four populous and growing countries of Asia: India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

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