The Philippine Department of Agriculture has reported that the area of GM maize cultivated in the country during 2021 has declined in comparison with 2020, falling by 18.8% to 0.68 million hectares. The fall in GM area is the result of a number of factors, including an overall decline in maize areas in the country; a fall in GM % utilisation; and the impact of Covid-19. The Philippines has cultivated GM maize since the introduction of insect-resistant varieties in 2002, followed by herbicide-tolerant varieties in 2005. Since introduction, utilisation of GM varieties has generally increased year-on-year to reach 27.1% of the total area in 2021. The proportion of varieties containing both insect resistance and herbicide tolerance (stacked gene varieties) has also been increasing, in 2020 99.9% of the GM maize area was planted with stacked gene varieties.