Bangladesh plans Golden Rice field trials to fight vitamin A deficiency

The Daily Star reports that Bangladesh intends to go forward with field tests of Golden Rice, genetically engineered rice that helps fight vitamin A deficiency, which causes blindness in children. With the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute is applying to import a variety developed in the Philippines that is rich in beta carotene, a source of vitamin A.

According to the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, “Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children. Globally, approximately 670,000 children die every year and another 350,000 go blind because they are vitamin A deficient,” Read more.

UK scientist recommends GM crops for global food security

Sainsbury Laboratory scientist Jonathan D.G. Jones wrote an article about the widespread misunderstanding of GM crops and the importance of their adoption, ISAAA reports. The article, titled “Why Genetically Modified Crops?”, strongly recommends the use of genetic modification “at a time when we need every tool in the toolbox to ensure adequate food production in the short, medium and long term.” Read more.

GM banana could help prevent spread of fungal disease in East Africa

According to All Africa, a GM banana with improved resistance to a devastating fungal disease could help smallholder farmers in East Africa save their crops. A leaf fungus has spread through the region over the last three decades, threatening to halve fruit production on affected plantations. A team of scientists at Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Institute (NARL) said field trials of GM bananas have shown “promising results.” Read more.   

ISAAA releases educational cartoon about GM crops

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) released an educational cartoon designed to enhance understanding of GM crops. Mandy & Fanny: The Future of Sustainable Agriculture is the first educational cartoon of its kind developed by ISAAA to illustrate the rapid adoption of biotech crops and their role in increasing income for farmers worldwide. The educational cartoon publication is authored by Bhagirath Choudhary and Kadambini Gaur, representatives of ISAAA in India, and illustrated by Irfan Khan, a renowned cartoonist in India. Check out the cartoon.

Women farmers in Africa face regulatory hurdles to agricultural technology and training

A BBC News article discusses female farmers in Africa who call on policy makers to increase women’s access to training, science and technology for agriculture.

Women grow as much as 90% of the food in sub-Saharan Africa, yet they have access to just 5% of resources including information, training and farm inputs, which are mostly provided to men. According to Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, a farmer in Zimbabwe, “A major stumbling block is the lack of cohesion and communication, between the policy makers in the relevant government departments.” 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.  

Scientist researching drought resistant wheat

According to NPR, scientists are researching ways to engineer wheat so it can thrive even when water is scarce. A drought impacting Russia this summer pushed wheat prices to their highest in years, underscoring the importance for a variety of wheat that can survive in droughts. In addition to wheat, scientists and researchers have already engineered drought-tolerant maize, and it could be sold commercially in just two years based on the regulatory process. Listen here.

Countries in Africa and Asia have much to gain economically from adopting GM crops

Biofortified posted a piece about a paper by Kym Anderson in New Biotechnology that shows that the potential economic benefits for those countries in Africa and Asia willing to adopt genetically modified (GM) crop varieties can be great.  However, the countries would not gain economically under this model if they ban imports of GM crops.  Read more.

Argentine Farmer writes that biotechnology is about human rights and eradicating hunger

Global Farmer-to-Farmer Roundtable participant Roberto Peiretti penned a piece about what he labels as “gene-ocide,” negatively portraying genetically modified crops without sound science.  Roberto has always supported environmentally responsible agriculture and has committed to no-till agriculture for many years. He writes, “Biotechnology and its synergy with no-till agriculture have the potential to improve nutrition and feed a growing world by boosting agricultural productivity and profitability in a sustainable fashion. This is a synergy we need if we are going to succeed in doubling global agricultural production during the next thirty to fifty years.” Read more.

A new book warns that we will experience a global famine in the next century without investment in agricultural technologies, and a Chicago Council on Global Affairs fellow shares that progress has been made towards an African agricultural revolution.

New book describes argues for increased investment in agricultural technologies

A new book by Australian journalist Julian Cribb titled The Coming Famine lays out the global challenges that will contribute to a global famine, particularly the lack of fresh water, arable farmland, and fossil fuels. The book provides some solutions to preempt a global food shortage. The author argues that investment in agricultural research (including agricultural technologies) must increase dramatically in order to produce enough food to sustain the growing population and avert food shortages this century. Read more.

Technology will help promote a food secure Africa

African leaders are finally speaking out about the need for an agricultural revolution says  Roger Thurow,  Senior Fellow for Global Agriculture and Food Policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, in a piece in The Globe & Mail . Thurow writes, “the way to an agricultural revolution in Africa has long been clear: promote research, put the latest technology in the hands of the farmers and boost investment in rural infrastructure.” Read more.

What we can learn from the March to Restore Sanity

Inspired by Jon Stewart’s March to Restore Sanity, NPR correspondent Adam Frank writes that the call for sanity and reason should extend to science, including genetic engineering. Sound science and evidence should be driving civil discourse, not extremism. He writes, “The point is not to have your views summed up in a single sentence but to remain open to evidence and argument.”  Read more.