Embrace biotechnology to feed the planet

Getting an appetite for biotechnology
Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, BBC Green Room 24 Feb 09;

A growing population and climate change is going to make it difficult to meet the demand for food in the coming years, says German MEP Jorgo Chatzimarkakis. In this week's Green Room, he argues that we must embrace the solutions offered by biotechnology if we are going to feed the planet.

In 2050, according to estimates, there will be nine billion mouths to feed around the world who will demand high quality, nutritious food.

Yet we will not be able to sustain a growing population if we do not amend our methods of agricultural production to reflect the new challenges before us.

We should stop our ideological debates and start thinking about how to strengthen the security and sustainability of global food production.

The application of advanced genetic science in breeding new crop varieties, including genetic modification methods, cannot alone address these massive challenges but it can be a significant part of the solution.

One way to enhance global food production is the use of Marked Assisted Selection (MAS), which allows the improvement of crops through "smart breeding".

This involves the crossbreeding of plants of similar families, rather than their genetic modification through the integration of foreign genes.

The application of genetic modification methods would be an additional alternative in the development of energy-rich and environmentally safe biomass for industrial use.

However, crops for the food production based on the MAS technique and GM crops for industrial use should be strictly separated.

Unfortunately, in Europe, we are lacking an open and balanced debate on the contribution that modern agriculture technologies could make to help farmers face today's challenges.

Lightening the load

The EU has set ambitious targets to tackle climate change, setting its member states the goal of cutting emissions by 20% (possibly 30%) from 1990 levels by 2020.



Agricultural practices - such as ploughing, deforestation, cattle and fertiliser use - currently account for about 25% of greenhouse gas emissions, making it more important than ever to curb emissions from this sector.

Agricultural biotechnology can help by reducing the production of greenhouse gases, helping crops adapt to varied and often adverse environments, and by helping to increase yields while using fewer hectares of land and other inputs.

For example, GM insect resistant crops have been developed so that farmers can apply significantly fewer insecticide treatments.

This consequently leads to a reduction of fuel used by farmers when they spray pesticides on their fields, which means a saving in carbon dioxide emissions.

Additionally, GM crops used today have been produced to reduce the need for tillage or ploughing, allowing farmers to adopt conservation or "no-till" farming practices.

This has positive consequences in terms of mitigation:

# tractor fuel use for tillage is reduced
# soil quality is enhanced and levels of soil erosion are cut
# less tillage keeps carbon in the soil, leading to lower emissions

The application of genetic technology to make plants better equipped to deal with a changing and difficult climate is one of the most exciting and important areas of advance in biotechnology.

Water shortages are already costing billions of dollars a year in crop shortfalls around the world, and are likely to grow more costly.

The preservation of our water resources is key as climate change increases the risk of water shortages and desertification.

GM crops have already been developed to be better adapted to warmer conditions.

Herbicide-tolerant soya, maize, cotton and oilseed rape have allowed farmers to reduce the amount of ploughing required before planting their crop, thereby reducing water dissipation.

They also help to reduce fossil fuel use, carbon emissions and soil erosion. New varieties of drought resistant crops, or crops which can be grown on marginal lands, also offer new opportunities to some of the world's poorest regions.

Research into drought tolerant crops, such as "water efficient maize" produced by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), a public-private research partnership based in Nairobi, suggests that yields can be maintained in water depleted situations.

There are also a number of projects being developed to optimise the nitrogen use of a crop, a vital requirement in many parts of the world where nitrogen fertilisers are in short supply.

Recognising that the production of fertilisers is energy demanding, these traits will be as beneficial to Europe, as they are to Africa.

Reasoned debate

In its annual study, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) found that 13.3 million farmers in 25 countries planted 125 million hectares of biotech crops during 2008.

It is clear that, when given the choice, farmers choose to benefit from the potential that GM offers.

The vast majority of farmers benefitting from GM technology are resource poor, frequently with small plots of land and limited technology to assist their farming.

In the past year, countries such as Egypt and Burkina Faso have embraced GM technology in recognition of the benefits they provide to both productivity and sustainability.

But we should not forget the sensitivity of the issue for European consumers. We therefore need strict transparency and control in order to allow consumers choice.

However, only one GM crop has been approved for cultivation in Europe in the past 10 years.

As the challenges we face become more acute, there has never been a better time for a genuine discussion about the benefits of biotechnology, smart breeding and GM crops for industrial use.

Dr Jorgo Chatzimarkakis is a German MEP and a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website