CBI previously blogged about a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos called “Rethinking How to Feed the World.” The panel featured notable leaders and CEOs including Jakaya M. Kikwete, President of Tanzania; Ellen Kullman, CEO of Dupont USA and Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft and co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The panel’s moderator asked Bill Gates, “Are you for or against genetically modified (GM) food?” Mr. Gates showed his support for the transgenic approach, saying it can “probably do better than any other approach” and called the disease resistance opportunities in GM crops “a real help.” Transgenic organisms, a subset of GMOs, are organisms which have inserted DNA that originated in a different species.

 Given the rising number of people worldwide that are malnourished or undernourished, Bill Gates advises that we look into all available crop production options. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is currently supporting many organizations that are responsible for helping small farmers in the developing world grow more food and funding R&D in agriculture including ag biotech. For example, the Foundation funds HarvestPlus, a nonprofit that supports molecular breeding research (a type of transgenic engineering that modifies a crop for traits such as disease resistance using genes native to the crop) towards improving plant nutrition in Africa and Asia.

You can watch Bill Gates’ response to the question about GM food here.

World leaders and CEOs at the Davos 2010 World Economic Forum participated in a panel called “Rethinking how to feed the world.” The panel discussed the challenges facing global food production and possible solutions that will increase yield and support agricultural producers worldwide.

The panel was moderated by Prannoy Roy, Chairman, New Delhi Television (NDTV), India, and panelists included:

William H. Gates III, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USA
Jakaya M. Kikwete, President of Tanzania
Ellen Kullman, Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, DuPont, USA
Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of Vietnam; Chair, 2010 ASEAN
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director, World Bank, Washington DC; Global Agenda Council on Corruption
Patricia A. Woertz, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), USA;

According to Tanzania President Kilwete, “…a combination of mechanization, irrigation, high-yielding seeds, getting the fertilizers and imparting skills to farmers” is needed for Tanzanian farmers to improve agricultural practices and food production.

The panelists agreed that science based solutions and better education for farmers will need to play a role in increasing food production. Please comment with your thoughts on this fascinating discussion.