Food Security

Food security is another area in which biotechnology
offers major inputs for healthier and more
nutritious food. Millions of people are malnourished,
and Vitamin A deficiency affects 40 million
children. There are also serious deficiencies
of iodine, iron, and other nutrients. A recent
UNICEF report on food and nutrition deficiencies
in children describes this as a “silent, invisible
emergency with no outward sign of a
problem.” Every year over 6 million children
under the age of 5 die worldwide. About 2.7 million
of these children die in India. More than half
of these deaths result from inadequate nutrition.
With the advent of gene transfer technology
and its use in crops, we hope to achieve higher
productivity and better quality, including improved
nutrition and storage properties. We also
hope to ensure adaptation of plants to specific
environmental conditions, to increase plant tolerance
to stress conditions, to increase pest and
disease resistance, and to achieve higher prices
in the marketplace. Genetically improved foods
will have to be developed under adequate regulatory
processes, with full public understanding.
We should ensure the safety and proper labeling
of the genetically improved foods, so consumers
will have a choice.
It is scientifically well established that an environmentally
benign way of ensuring food security
is through bioengineering of crops. For the
4.6 billion people in developing countries, one
billion do not get enough to eat and live in poverty.
Is there any other strategy or alternative?
Biotechnology will provide the new tools to
breeders to enhance plant capacity. Since we
know that 12 percent of the world land is under
agricultural crops, it is projected that the per
capita availability may be reduced from 2.06 hectares
to 0.15 hectare by 2050.