This week, a scientific study out of South Africa shows that GM crops could help alleviate food shortages in sub-Saharan Africa and a scientist expresses concern over global food production.

Scientist warns of potential for global famine

In a keynote speech at the Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference, Australian biotechnology expert Julian Cribb warned governments across the globe that a worldwide famine is a possibility and that they must find a way to more than double food production in the next century. According to AOLNews, Cribb considers this potential food shortage to be more pressing than the global financial and climate change crises.

Academy of Science of South Africa report says GM Crops can help alleviate food shortage

A recently released report from the Academy of Science of South Africa shares that “agricultural biotechnology…can be one of the most vital tools for addressing the chronic food shortages in sub-Saharan Africa.” The Academy’s research found that GM crops increase yields, improve the protein content of starchy foods and the biofortification of local foods.  Currently South Africa is one of only three countries in the continent growing commercial GM crops.  Read more.

Indian farmers adopt flood-tolerant rice at unprecedented rates

IRRI, a rice research institute, has found that Indian farmers are planting flood-tolerant rice at an unprecedented rate. While the rice is not commercially available yet, IRRI is working with governments, nonprofit organizations and public and private organizations to promote and distribute the genetically modified rice to areas prone to flooding. Within one year of release, the submergence-tolerant, high-yielding rice variety has reached more than 100,000 farmers in India. Read more.

Forbes Magazine published an article titled Green Genes this month featuring CBI Expert Dr. Pamela Ronald. The article describes her work bridging the gap between genetic engineering and organic farming with her husband, organic farmer Raoul Adamchak. Dr. Ronald and Raoul hope to feed the world in a sustainable manner through “crops that limit the use of pesticides and fertilizers while delivering more food per acre planted.”

Dr. Ronald has developed rice that can resist the floods in India and Bangladesh that continue to destroy 4 million tons of crops each year. She also sees the value of genetically engineered rice that contains the vitamin A because this rice can reduce the number of children who die each year from vitamin deficiency (this rice was created by Syngenta and academic researchers).

 In addition to Dr. Ronald, the article also features Karl Haro Von Mogel, a graduate student studying agricultural biotechnology at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Karl writes Biofortified, a blog about the technology and the promise it holds for the future of agriculture.