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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Bio-fortified crops hold the key to food security, says expert
-The Hindu
 
‘It has become imperative in view of climate change'

Bio-fortified varieties of staple food grains, such as Vitamin-A-enriched ‘Golden Rice', or iron-enriched wheat, could improve the nutritional status of the world's poor, P. Pushpangadan, Director General, Amity Institute for Herbal and Biotech Products Development, said here on Thursday.

Presenting a paper on the “Recent advances of agricultural biotechnology in the light of climate change” at the 81st annual session of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), he said the climate change challenge would require the development of a generation of new crops with enhanced mineral and vitamin content.

“Today, one billion people of the world are undernourished and more than a third are malnourished. As the population continues to increase, the looming threat of climate change will exasperate the situation even further. Bio-fortified foods can be easily incorporated into the dietary habits and farming programmes of the rural poor of the developing countries. People who have access to bio-fortified foods may be better prepared to withstand the deleterious effects of climate change on their livelihoods,” he explained.

Dr. Pushpangadan, former director of the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute at Palode near here, said it was necessary to encourage countries to think proactively about the role technology could play in addressing food security and climate change and about its strong potential as an engine of economic growth. “Unfortunately, the lack of science-based regulations in many countries discourages innovation and adaptation and creates barriers to trade,” he said.

“By 2050, the global population will surpass 9 billion and require nearly a doubling of agricultural output to provide an adequate food supply. At the same time, the world's agricultural system will be increasingly challenged by water scarcity and climate change, raising the risk of production shortfalls in a world where over one billion people are already undernourished. A challenge like this can be met through biotechnology, innovation, and appropriate agricultural development and trade policies”.

“It is becoming clear that climate change will be the most important constraint on our ability to feed ourselves in the coming decades. We must do everything we can to transform our food production system, to help combat global warming, and, at the same time, to feed ourselves in what will almost certainly be far less favourable conditions,” Dr. Pushpangadan said.

While it remained controversial in some policy arenas and the public forums, agricultural biotechnology had produced dramatic improvements in yield and had reduced production costs and input use intensity, he said.