Can Agriculture Biotechnology Help Feed a Growing Global Population - Essay Example

CAN AGRICULTURE BIOTECHNOLOGY HELP FEED A GROWING GLOBAL POPULATION? and Can agricultural biotechnology help feed a growing global population? Food technology is a branch of food science that studies the application of modern science in the food production process. Though it seems new, food technology has been existing for a long period with the cross breeding of crops by ancestors. The world population is at 6 billion currently with more than 800 million people suffering from undernourishment (Holdrege and Talbott 2008: 28). According to a United Nations report, 250 000 children are born every day, millions people will be added within this decade and the population of the industrialized world will grow by 56 million while that of the developing world will grow by 900 million (Sadik 2014:1). In the United States, the world’s largest food producer, 35 million people had inadequate food, according to figures by the US Department of Agriculture (Holdrege and Talbott 2008: 29). The world population is expected to reach 9 billion people by 2050 (Baird 2011:112) .The Foresight report indicates that feeding such a large population will require efforts commensurate to the socially and environmentally damaging “green revolution” of the 1960’s and 1970’s (Baird 2011:108). Climate change has led to adverse weather conditions. It also complicates matters as people are forced to plan for adverse weather conditions such as the recent California drought. California produces half of the fruit and vegetables grown in the United States. Agriculture biotechnology alone will not feed the world. However, when applied as a compliment of other agricultural production methods it will be a solution to the rising food needs. Agriculture biotechnology will not feed the growing world population alone. How it has been applied Agriculture biotechnology is the sum of tools that scientists use to understand and manipulate organism’s genetic makeup for use in the production or processing of agricultural foods. It involves manipulating, removing or replacing genes. It is being used to solve challenges in the field of agriculture and processing. Some of its applications include, plant breeding to increase yields, to enhance the plant’s resistance to diseases and pests as well as enhance its response to abiotic stresses such as drought and extreme cold. It is also being used to enhance the nutritional content of foods, create low cost disease free planting materials for some plants such as cassava. It is creating new tools for the diagnosis and treatment of animals and plants, livestock and fish and expanding the traits that can be addressed. Biotechnology changes the feeding and treatment of animals in order to improve animal nutrition while also reducing waste. It is instrumental in disease diagnostics and development of animal vaccines. It is important to note that biotechnology is more than genetic engineering because it enables scientists to understand molecular structures . Genomics for example is a branch of biotechnology that is changing the way people understand the functioning of genes, cells, organisms and ecosystems. It is being applied in marker-assisted breeding and the management of genetic resources. Despite its wide ranging applications,it remains an emotive and divisive topic. The field can have a lot of positive impact under good management because it can compliment other food security measures. History of biotechnology The first application of biotechnology was the production of an enzyme used in cheese making and yeast for baking in 1990. The original aim of biotech crops was to develop crops that were resistant to weeds, diseases and insects. One of the most successful biotechnology products is the Golden rice. It was produced to provide Vitamin A. It is believed that between 100 and 140 million children in the world are suffering from Vitamin A deficiency (VAD). An estimated 250 000 to 500 000 children become blind each year due to Vitamin D deficiency with half of them dying within a year of losing their sight (FAO, 2004: 42). Though rice is the world’s most important provider of food, it lacks the most important micronutrients and vitamins. Golden rice has been developed with three additional genes to produce provitamin A. The media is filled with reports of new technologies doing things faster and at a lower cost. Advances in food technology leading to the production of higher yielding genetically engineered crops do not get much coverage. However, advances in medicine and the growth of the global economy mean that people will be able to live longer and more children will survive child mortality scares. This will lead to an inevitable growth in the population. However, the land available will always remain the same. Environmental safety concerns will most likely result in frantic efforts to preserve the forests and swamps in the world.Thus the available land will need to produce more. This will make the use of higher yielding genetically engineered crops a necessity. Biotechnology is a large part of agricultural technology.The study of biotechnology enables food scientists to understand the life processes of molecules that enable them to come up with genetically modified organisms (Sud 2009:176). The All India Crop Biotechnology Association (AICBA) credits biotechnology with increased agricultural productivity and growth in crop yields while appreciating its potential to increase agricultural productivity by 25% worldwide (Sud 2009:176). There is a lot of activity in the field of plant technology as researchers try to come up with crops that can survive in harsh weather conditions and yield more produce (Sud 2009:176). There has been a massive investment in genomics by the world’s leading economies especially USA, China, Japan and the EU while other countries such as Brazil, South Korea and Singapore have taken a keen interest in Agricultural biotechnology (Sud 2009:176). According to Marc Van Montagu (2014), 17.3 million farmers are growing genetically modified crops on 25% of the world’s arable land with 90% them believed to bepracticing small scale farming in developing countries.Proponents of biotech argue that farmers can now produce more food in an environmentally sustainable way. The USDA has been instrumental in the development and growth of biotechnology. Most of the advances in this field have been done by scientists affiliated to USDA organizations funded by it. The agency supports the safe and appropriate application of science to solve the challenges the world faces.It ensures that the GMO’s are safe and helps brings them to the domestic and international market. Ensuring that the GM products are safe is the responsibility of three government agencies. These are the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Food and Drug Administration and the USDA’S Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. These products are regulated based on their characteristics and what they are intended to be used for. The use of biotechnology in agriculture has changed the way farming is done.There has been a rapid growth in biotechnology crops in the US. According to the USDA’S National Agricultural Statistics Service (NAAS), biotechnology plantings as compared to percentage of the total crop planting is United States in 2012 were approximately 88% for corn,94% for cotton and 93% for soy beans.To keep up with this change the USDA has formed an advisory council on Biotechnology and the 21st century (AC21). One of the areas it has covered is how best different farmers producing different crops, be they traditional, biotechnology or organic farmers can best coexist to satisfy consumer demand.This is an effective and forward thinking approach to the growth of biotechnology. Challenges However, pertinent issues surrounding agriculture biotechnology must be addressed first (Sud 2009: 34). There are concerns about the safety of GMO’S and government regulation. Genetically modified organisms are relatively new and possible longterm effects on humans and animals are yet to be conclusively seen. Private companies for farmers in the developed world have done most of the biotechnology work. Except for a few exceptions, there has been very little biotechnology products developed for farmers in developing countries where the need is higher. There is also a need to ensure that developing countries are not subject to exploitation and used as testing grounds. There is pressure for governments to regulate the production, sale and marketing of genetically modified organisms.The GMO industry has been actively lobbying congress to ensure strict regulations do not limit its capacity. It is necessary to promote GM foods as the solution to the population growth (Baird 2011:109). On April 16, 2014 the Vermont state senate passed H.112, a bill requiring that all foods sold in the state with GMO content to be labeled.The bill also outlaws the use of “natural” or “all natural” on labels of such foods.Some countries have gone further,banning the production and sale of GMO’s. Most of these regulations are driven by consumer demand.This demand is driven partly by openness beliefs but mostly by fears over the safety of GMO’s. These fears are driven by misinformation and ignorance. For example, there is a widespread belief among many people in the world that consuming GMO’s leads to cancer. Debates about GMO’s rarely involve facts and are often driven by fear.Much of the science on the subject concludes that GM foods are safe for human consumption. The Organic Consumers Association is waging a lengthy crusade against Monsanto, the world’s largest biotech company. The organization claims that since GM foods are laboratory made, they pose different risks from natural plants (OCA 2014:1). It claims that they have mixed economic benefits, resulting in greater use of pesticides. GM crops are as energy hungry as other chemically farmed crops while offering no effective climate change solution (OCA 2014:1).They harm soils, reduce biodiversity and disrupt ecosystems with those farmers who grow it risking the growth of super weeds on their farms. According to the association, traditional farming methods helped with safe modern technology such as gene mapping and marker assisted selection are better alternativeness to GM foods (OCA 2014:1) Limitations Agriculture technology should not be the only solution. The use of farming methods that minimize pesticide and fertilizer use such as organic farming should not be dismissed lightly in a race to embrace biotechnology. This is because they are proven methods having served developing countries well over the years. The places where urgent food solution efforts are needed are also the poorest places on earth for whom advances in agriculture technology remains out of reach due to cost and lack of exposure. Governments and development partners should come up with methods to bring technology solutions to the places where it is needed the most. It is also difficult to quantify the effect of genetically engineered crops on yield. This is because the harvested yield is not just dependent on the type of plant breeder but also on the quality of the soil and water management.Some may argue that looking at these two to drive future agricultural improvements may be better.However, food security requires a multi-pronged approach. Though most of the biotechnology research is being carried out in developed countries,its biggest impact can be in developing countries. However, the use of new breeding and molecular biotechnologies in developing countries will be constrained for the foreseeable future due to inadequate technical and operational capacities. Developing countries are too busy struggling to balance budgets to afford long term funding for research.The fact that most farmers in developing countries are small scale farmers also means that their crops and livestock have low commercial value and thus do not have the capacity to invest in new technologies. There is already a shortage of conventional breeding programs. While these innovations offer increased productivity, better crop adaptability to hostile weather and increased product quality they also create challenges for the research and regulatory capacity of developing countries. How to address the challenges and limitations There is a need to get students interested in agriculture and to embrace food security. This is because the fields of agriculture, food science and biotechnology tend to attract very few students. There should be concerted efforts by all stakeholders to attract top talent to the field of food technology. In order to have a greater impact on the world, there has to be more innovations and scientific breakthroughs. People’s perception on the role that agricultural biotechnology can play in meeting the challenge of feeding the world is informed by their vision of how best food security can be achieved. There are two contrasting viewpoints. There are those who argue that the best way to deal with it is to introduce land reforms in the developing countries, practicing ecologically based land use and community access to land.The second viewpoint states that economic empowerment through the increase of exports will give the people enough purchasing power to afford food. Those who belong to the first school of thought would have a low opinion on the impact of biotechnology to feed the world while those with the second will support it. There are some concerns that biotechnology may increase not reduce hunger, food insecurity and social inequalities in developing countries. Increased crop production could lead to a fall in prices that will adversely affect the poor farmers. This may lead poor indebted farmers to quit farming setting of a cycle that will only lead to increased poverty and food insecurity in the world. The technology has been promoted as a solution-based approach and not a need based approach. This approach is likely to increase the vulnerability of the poor farmers. Conclusion Agricultural biotechnology has the potential to have a huge positive impact in the developing countries. Crusaders of agricultural technology as the solution to the world’s food challenges often point to the shortages in the developing countries due to inadequate food production and harsh weather patterns. However, a look at wealthy countries such as the US will reveal that feeding the world has to first deal with the underlying issues that include poverty, food distribution, economic and social policies (Holdrege and Talbott 2008:30). Agricultural biotechnology will not feed the world because it distracts from the root causes of world hunger. Biotechnology will only produce more food; it will not feed more people. Reference List Baird, V., 2011. The no-nonsense guide to world population. New Internationalist, 108-112 Top of Form FAO (ROME)., 2004. The state of food and agriculture 2003-04 [agricultural biotechnology : meeting the needs of the poor]. Rome, Food and agriculture organization of the United nations (FAO). Holdrege, C., & Talbott, S., 2008. Beyond biotechnology the barren promise of genetic engineering. Lexington, KY, University Press of Kentucky [Online], Available http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=792230 [19/4/2014] Montagu, V.N., 2014.The Irrational Fear of GM food.WSJ.com [Online] Available http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/ [19/4/2014] Organic Consumers Association (OCA)., 2014. Genetically Engineered Food, Biotechnology, and GMOs. [Online] Available http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_29778.cfm [19/4/2014] Sadik, N., 2014. Population growth and the food crisis. Fao [Online] Available http://www.fao.org/docrep/u3550t/u3550t02.htm [19/4/2014] SUD, S., 2009. The changing profile of Indian agriculture. New Delhi, BS Books, an imprint of Business Standard Ltd.176-178 Read More