Ghana’s minister for food and agriculture supports ag biotech for battling hunger

Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister for Food and Agriculture in Ghana, said Africa should use agricultural biotechnology, like GM crops, to battle hunger and malnutrition, while ensuring environmental sustainability during a conference in Accra, All Africa reports.

“Climate change can significantly reverse the little progress that has been made towards poverty reduction and food security unless Ghana increases the application of science and technology, including biotechnology to improve agricultural productivity,” he emphasized.

Ghana’s government is under pressure to allow GM crops that will increase food production to feed the country’s rising population and to address the challenges of increasing water and land scarcity. Read more.

Indian newspaper says GM crop research could improve local crop production

According to Commodity Online, the Indian government should support agricultural research for the development of high-yielding genetically modified (GM) crop varieties.

The article references Argentina’s agricultural success from adopting GM crops. “It was the adoption of genetically modified (GM) soybean seeds, no till planting that helped raised production.” Read more.

NPR: Biotech could boost global food supply and mitigate impact of climate change

NPR’s Science Friday discussed the role of biotechnology in helping to meet the challenges of climate change and improve global food security. Gerald Nelson, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in D.C. said governments should approve genetically modified (GM) crops to increase yields and disease resistance. Read more.

Hunger relief agencies welcome Kenya’s approval of GM maize

Kenya’s Daily Nation announced the country has approved the importation of GM maize after guidelines were released last week.

This is welcome news for hunger relief agencies that have been pushing the government to approve genetically modified foods to help mitigate local starvation. Read more.

India calls for GM crop approval to contribute to a second green revolution

India hopes biotechnology could lead to a second green revolution, India Infoline News Service reports.

Local farmers, scientists and members of the ag biotech industry gathered to call on the Indian Parliament to expedite approval of GM crops. They write: “Plant biotechnology is a powerful tool that helps farmers provide food, feed, fiber, and fuel to a growing global population in a sustainable manner, while reducing agriculture’s footprint on environment.”  Read more.

GM crops are key to improving ag production in Africa, the Economist reports

According to an Economist Special Report this week, biotechnology has helped African countries to significantly improve crop yields and overcome environmental challenges.

Joe deVries, head of crop research at the Alliance for a Green Revolution (AGRA) says that previously African farmers had low yields for crops such as sorghum and cassava, but the adoption of biotech sorghum has tripled yields and genetic research helps prevent the devastation of cassava from disease. Read more.

Harvard Professor recommends GM crops as solution to low food production in Africa

In Harvard Magazine, Professor Calestous Juma at the Harvard Kennedy School says that agricultural technology could help Africa improve its food production. Professor Juma is founder of the African Centre for Technology Studies, the first African NGO dedicated to promoting science and technology methods for sustainable development, and he currently directs the Agricultural Innovation Project at Harvard, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  His book, The New Harvest, “notes that the use of genetically modified BT corn and cotton has reduced pesticide use and increased crop yields in Burkina Faso, South Africa, and Egypt.” Read more.

March 17: film about founder of first seed company to be screened at the National Portrait Gallery

On Thursday, March 17, at 12 PM EST the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. will premiere the film Henry Wallace: An Uncommon Man. The film presents a biographical portrait of the Iowa farmer, scientist and writer who founded the world’s first hybrid seed company that catalyzed the Green Revolution of the 20^th century, which has helped save more than a billion people in Latin America and Asia through improved plant varieties.  Mr. Wallace served as Agriculture Secretary and Vice President under Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depression and World War II. Read more.

Submit nominations for the 2012 World Food Prize

The World Food Prize is accepting nominations for its annual award to honor individuals who have contributed to “improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.” Norman Borlaug, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate who has also been called the “Father of the Green Revolution,” founded The World Food Prize twenty-five years ago to continue his legacy of implementing agricultural technologies that help fight global hunger. The deadline for submitting nominations for 2012 is April 1, 2011. Read more.  

A former British Science minister speaks out on behalf of biotech crops and researchers in India develop a protein-rich potato that has the potential to improve the diets of millions in developing nations.

Former British Science Minister calls for renewed debate on biotech crops based on scientific evidence

Lord David Sainsbury, a former British science minister, spoke out recently on behalf of biotech crops, sharing that the “technology could play a vitally important role in feeding a global population predicted to reach 9 billion by 2050.” Lord Sainsbury told BBC Radio that the UK risks falling behind other world powers like India and China because of the country’s ban on biotech crops. He adds that ruling out this technology would be “very foolish” and not based on scientific evidence. Read more.

Genetic engineering a more precise form of selective plant breeding

While a great deal of recent attention has been devoted to the FDA’s approval process of genetically engineered salmon, Associated Press reporters Seth Borenstein and Malcolm Ritter write that humans have been altering food for the thousands of years through selective plant breeding. Norman Borlaug’s Green Revolution, which saved millions of lives in Africa and Asia, would not have been possible without precise breeding methods. The reporters quote CBI Expert Bruce Chassy who adds, “all of the animals, plants and microbes we use in our food system, our agricultural system, are genetically modified in one way or another.” Read more.

Researchers in India develop a protein-packed potato

A genetically modified potato that has up to 60 percent more protein than unmodified potatoes and increased levels of amino acids was developed by researchers in India. According to ABC News, the potato uses a gene from the seed of the amaranth plant (a grain crop) to achieve greater levels of protein. More than a billion people worldwide consume potatoes every day, and the modified potato could have positive public health effects by reducing protein deficiency in developing nations. Read more.

Science  journal Nature published editorials on the need for a second green revolution to eliminate world hunger by 2050 and how overregulation is slowing down a rice variety than can lower the risk of blindness in children, while the production of a biotech crop in India yields advantages for female employment opportunities and earnings.

“Second green revolution” necessary to eliminate world hunger

A second green revolution with a new focus in agricultural research will be needed to provide enough food for the world’s population in 2050, according to an editorial published by science journal Nature on July 28. In order to achieve a Green Revolution, we will need to invest in high-tech seeds and low-tech farming practices.  The editorial was part of Nature’s latest issue where the theme was food and agriculture. READ MORE »