Kansas City, Missouri US — A steady increase in food prices in recent years is pushing Asian countries to consider softening their stance on the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in animal feed, despite looming public concerns.
GMO crops have been hotly debated in India during the last several months. In July 2025, poultry farmers in India called on the government to consider opening the market to US imports of GMO products to bolster the reeling industry’s profitability, as Ricky Thaper, joint secretary of the Poultry Federation of India, revealed. Farmers are turning to GMO crops as the industry’s situation leaves much to be desired.
Soaring feed costs and relatively low purchasing power among consumers have begun to undermine poultry farmers’ profitability, and this trend promises to worsen in the coming years.
In the 2025-26 marketing year, the industry is projected to see its profitability plunge by an average of 50% due to a sharp rise in corn and soybean prices, according to Crisis Rating, a local consulting agency.
GMO is a double-edged sword, as its use has pros and cons, said Uday Singh Bayas, president of Poultry India and Indian Poultry Equipment Manufacturers Association.
“The proposal to allow imports of GM soybean and maize aims to ease India’s feed ingredient shortages, lower costs, and strengthen feed security, particularly when domestic supplies tighten,” Bayas said. “Proponents argue that GM imports could offer cost relief, yield stability, and global competitiveness, as many countries already rely on GM feed.”
However, Bayas said concerns persist over biosafety, public acceptance, import dependence and traceability costs. Several environmental protection NGOs in India advocated against the embracement of GMOs, citing food safety risks.
“Overall, this remains a contentious policy issue that requires careful balancing of economic needs and safety considerations, especially as the matter is still sub judice and awaiting policy clarity,” Bayas said.
He said the industry will be better served by selectively allowing the import of GM feed inputs, strictly for feed, not food, under well-regulated, aboveboard systems. However, he noted, it must go hand-in-hand with ramping up domestic non-GM breeding, improved agronomy, and alternative feed innovations.
“In short, GM is a tool not a panacea,” Bayas emphasized.
China at the forefront
The issue of wider GMO approval in India has another dimension since China, its key economic and political rival in the region, is reportedly expanding the use of GMO planting.
Asian countries are shifting their position on GMOs, though the pace and motives differ by country, said Nandini Roy Choudhury, analyst with Future Market Insights, a research firm.
“The change is most visible in China, which now treats biotechnology as a matter of national security,” Choudhury said.
In 2025, China expanded GMO corn planting to roughly 3.3 million hectares, around 7% of total corn acreage, nearly five times the area in 2024, Choudhury said. The country also has accelerated approvals of new varieties and seed licenses, signaling a clear intent to strengthen domestic food production and reduce import dependence.
Recent approvals in late 2024 and early 2025 include 17 GM and gene-edited crop varieties, adding to previous approvals in 2023. Commercial planting of GM crops like soybeans, corn, cotton and papaya is now permitted, a significant expansion from earlier restrictions that limited commercial use to only a few crops.
Asia is undergoing a normalization of GMO technologies, said Aidan Connolly, president of the think tank AgriTech Capital, referring to recent developments in China and India. Specifically in China and Southeast Asia, this trend in the last few years has been fueled by more extreme weather and worsening global trade conditions. India, in turn, is being pushed to increase its reliance on GMOs due to a surge in feed costs in recent years, Connolly said.
Ian Lahiffe, consultant and adviser for China Ag and Foodtech, the wider GMO approval is a part of the strategy aimed at lowering costs along the food chain. Lahiffe explained that Chinese feed costs traditionally have been twice that of Brazil or the United States, which was one of the key reasons why China relied on protein imports for years.
Grain and soybean prices have remained noticeably higher due to structural issues, such as average farm size and logistics.
This situation is no longer considered normal by the Chinese government, partly given the unraveling trade conflict with the United States.
“Top leadership in China is highly aware of food security risks,” said Even Pay, agriculture analyst at Trivium China. “This is not a recent development but a long-term feature of China’s relatively limited arable land and water, relatively large population, and long history of both natural and manmade famine.”
Following the lead
Some other countries, including Vietnam and Thailand, also are increasingly looking into opportunities offered by GMO, said Connolly.
Vietnam plans to use gene-editing technology to cultivate crops destined for animal feed, Nguyen Van Long, director of the Department of Science and Technology, recently told local media outlets, adding that the legal framework for this transition has yet to be finalized.
“We hope that scientists and media agencies will continue to accompany us so that science and technology can become a real spearhead, contributing significantly to the growth and modernization of the agricultural sector,” Long said.
Vietnam is no stranger to GMOs, as the country has been importing and using genetically modified crops in feed production for over a decade.
However, Vietnamese officials have warned that adoption of GMOs in the country has been slow in recent years.
“Unfortunately, Vietnam’s adoption of biotechnology has been slow, and the gap between Vietnam and the rest of the world is widening,” Cao Duc Phat, former agricultural minister and chairman of the International Rice Research Institute, outlined during an industry conference in 2024. “We have yet to meet the targets set by the (Communist) Party and the state, primarily due to a lack of awareness.”
In contrast, Thailand has chosen to keep a stricter stance on GMOs. The country does not have commercial cultivation of GMO crops, maintaining a de facto ban due to public opposition, though it allows the import of GMO soybeans and corn for industrial and animal feed purposes.
“Thailand, while historically conservative on transgenic crops, is now moving ahead with gene-editing regulation,” Choudhury said. “Its 2024 guidelines treat gene-edited crops as conventional rather than GMO, enabling field use under lighter oversight.”
Taken together, the developments in the Asian countries suggest that “normalization” is real but proceeding through different policy channels: direct cultivation in China and Vietnam, regulatory modernization in Thailand, and controlled import flexibility in India, Choudhury added.
“Several forces are behind this shift,” he said. “First, food security has become the central narrative. Countries that rely heavily on imported grains see GMO adoption as a hedge against global volatility and climate stress. China’s emphasis on yield improvement and reduced import dependency is explicitly framed as a national security goal.”
To some extent, the regulatory environment is catching up with the science.
Choudhury said Japan’s early distinction between gene editing and classic transgenic methods created a model now followed by Thailand and under review elsewhere. This “new biotech” framing allows governments to support innovation without confronting entrenched consumer skepticism.
“Policymakers became more open to yield-enhancing technologies once inflation started eroding margins,” he said.
Although the transition is most visible in Asia, calls to facilitate the wider adoption of GMO technologies are growing louder in other parts of the world.
For instance, the Kenyan Feed Industry Association (AKEFEMA) has been advocating for the use of GMOs in animal feed to combat high costs and shortages, as the country relies heavily on imported feed ingredients such as soybean meal and sunflower cake.
The country produces about 2.5 million tonnes of animal feed annually, with 80% of the raw materials imported from neighboring countries, including Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia.
Feed manufacturers propose duty waivers on imports to ease access to raw materials, a review of levies and taxes in the counties and nationally, and local production of yellow maize, sunflowers and soybeans. However, the authorities have been reluctant to ease restrictions on GMOs.
A strategic transition
In essence, the recent bout of food inflation acted as an accelerant, but the deeper engine of change lies in “strategic realism,” Choudhury said.
“Asia’s arable land is limited, climate shocks are frequent, and livestock feed demand continues to rise,” he said. “For many governments, controlled adoption of GMO or gene-edited crops is now viewed as a pragmatic tool to stabilize costs, protect supply, and close part of the productivity gap with North and South America.”
Still, Choudhury added, the transition depends on consistent field results, stable regulation, and consumer acceptance.
“If China’s pilot yields falter, if India’s courts reverse approvals, or if cheap imports again flood Asian markets, enthusiasm could cool,” Choudhury said. “But as of now, the direction of travel is clear: genetic technology is moving from controversy to policy instrument across much of Asia.”
Source : worldgrain
