GM farming technology (Technology)
The critical need for GM farming technology in developing
countries by Ranjana Smetacek
Today, more than one billion people in the world live on less than $1
per day with a total of 2.7 billion people struggling to survive on less
than $2 a day. The majority of the poor and malnourished in the world
depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods
making it essential for subsistence farmers in developing countries to
become more productive. For these individuals, losing a crop to a
drought or a crop-destroying insect can be the difference between life
and death.
"800 million people, all together, do not know where their next meal is
coming from," says Dr. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, Professor of Applied
Economics at Cornell University, 2001 World Food Prize Laureate and
catalyst behind the 2020 Vision Initiative. "If we don't apply science
to solve poor people's problems, we're going to end up with scientific
apartheid meaning science is for us, the non-poor. And, for the poor,
science is too complicated, too sophisticated. That is not true. But to
a considerable extent, that is what's happening today."
A vocal advocate for increased research to support food production and
policy surrounding it, Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen supports farming technology
and the advantages of genetic engineering of food crops that can
contribute to poverty alleviation by increasing yields, improving
nutrition and generating income among resource-poor, subsistence farmers
in developing countries.
Since the technology is delivered in the seed and often requires less
labor and fewer inputs, GM crops have a superior fit in subsistence
farming operations. "You know, a 24-row combine harvester requires a big
farm. But, the transgenic seed doesn't really have the same
characteristics. The technological advantages of transgenic crops are
contained in the seed," says Dr. C. Ford Runge, economist, professor and
director of the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy
who has conducted research on the importance of agriculture in
developing countries. "For example, in the U.S., you would expect, on
average, to increase productivity by five percent. If you use Bt maize
in the Philippines, that increase is 40 percent."
While GM crops are currently being grown in South Africa, subsistence
farmers across the rest of the continent cannot yet grow GM crops yet
more than 40 percent of Africans do not even have the ability to obtain
sufficient food on a day-to-day basis. Declining soil fertility and land
degradation have led to a 23 percent decrease in food production per
capita in the last 25 years.
"It is incumbent on our government and on our scientists … to bring a
technology, which can address a small-scale farmer," says Dr. Ruth
Oniang, a member of the Parliament of Kenya, professor at Jomo Kenyatta
University, and founder of Rural Outreach Program a not-for-profit
organization that undertakes development activities aimed at improving
livelihoods of the rural poor in Kenya, more than 55 percent of whom
live below the poverty line. "I don't know of any country, which
developed without using science and technology."
Research does indicate that highly productive agriculture has the
potential to benefit whole economies �" increasing income and improving
the economics of family farms, creating jobs and improving livelihoods
for farm families. "What they typically require is a kind of an
empowering tool, which allows them to reduce uncertainties, get greater
incomes, and also to be able to invest more in their own households, as
well as on the farm. What biotechnology enables them is precisely this,"
says Dr. Laveesh Bhandari, economist and director of Indicus Analytics
in India, who recently studied the impact of this new technology in
farming on households and communities in India.
"Take any place on the planet that was once extremely poor and is now
either developed or on its way to becoming a developed economy, you'll
find almost inevitably an agricultural revolution at the start of that a
big rise in productivity, in the amount of food grown per hectare of
land," says Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute and
United Nations Millennium Project, who for more than 20 years has been
involved in identifying challenges to, and solutions for, poverty and
hunger alleviation in developing countries. "Getting those technologies
to the poorest farmers is absolutely one of the keys to making the
breakthrough out of extreme poverty."
2007 Monsanto Company. All rights reserved. The copyright holder
consents to the use of this material and the images in the published
context only and solely for the purpose of promoting the benefits of
agricultural biotechnology.
About the Author
Ranjana Smetacek is the director of Global Biotech Acceptance for
Monsanto. On the net at www.monsanto.com/biotech-gmo/
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