Dr Howarth E Bouis, director of HarvestPlus, is a doctorate from Stanford University. He is promoting Biofortification within the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, agricultural research and nutrition community in various countries. What is Biofortification of crops? Biofortification is a process where plant breeders explore crop genetic diversity in seed banks and create a crop that is rich in specific micronutrients. There are two ways to biofortify crops—conventional plant breeding and...

It is time for us to take a hard look at our agricultural system. We are not yet reliving the food crisis of 2007-08 , but food prices are surging, with global prices for wheat and maize rising by 75% and 60%, respectively, from June to December 2010. Meanwhile, nearly 1 billion people worldwide are going hungry. The obvious solution to many of our food-related ills is to accelerate agricultural growth....

Transgenic Cotton being hastily pushed in India, says researcher Technological alternatives available to switch from conventional production NEW DELHI: A panel discussion on ‘GM Foods and Food Security’ held here on Thursday highlighted differing opinions on the controversial subject, although the majority opinion was in favour of GM crops. Participating in the discussion, organised by the Institute of Economic Growth, Ronald Herring of Cornell University pointed out that Bt Cotton in India played an...

KEY TRENDS   • As per the 2019 Global Hunger Index report, neighbouring countries such as China (GHI score: 6.5; GHI rank: 25), Sri Lanka (GHI score: 17.1; GHI rank: 66), Myanmar (GHI score: 19.8; GHI rank: 69), Nepal (GHI score: 20.8; GHI rank: 73), Bangladesh (GHI score: 25.8; GHI rank: 88) and Pakistan (GHI score: 28.5; GHI rank: 94) have outperformed India (GHI score: 30.3; GHI rank: 102) *13    • As per the 2018 Global Hunger Index report,...