Biotechnology, the Gene Revolution, and Proprietary Technology in Agriculture

A Strategic Note for the World Bank

by JH Dodds, R Ortiz, JH Crouch, V Mahalasksmi3 & KK Sharma

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Click here to read the paper at BIODEVELOPMENTS.ORG

INTRODUCTION

A fifth of the world’s population lives in absolute poverty (less than US$ 1 per day), and almost 50% of the total world’s population lives on less than US$ 2 per day. Of this meager amount, 80% is spent on food. Extreme poverty and financial insolvency translate into despair and economic isolation, and it has been shown that food insecurity and poverty are significantly related with each other. Indeed, crises in public health and food production are distinctive features of Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). The statistics for these countries paint a grim picture. About 826 million people lack adequate food to eat, and 20% of the children in the world’s poorest countries do not reach the age of five. Furthermore, one third of all children under five in HIPCs are malnourished and physically stunted, which will negatively affect the rest of their lives. Their diets are often deficient in vitamins, leading not only to malnutrition but also to disease, and in severe cases, to blindness. It seems that these number of poor people may remain unchanged within the next decade if slow growth remains and inequality increases. However, the number of poor people may decline by 40% in 2008 if countries adopt policies and interventions fostering inclusion and benefiting all equally. Surely in the 21st century, when new agricultural technologies are readily available to enhance the nutritional value of crops and to increase their yields, the poor citizens of this planet have a right to benefit from these new technologies and to better their own lives and those of their children.

Development investors and policy makers should act with all possible speed to bring modern science and technology to bear on the problems of public health, food insecurity, environmental degradation and demographic stress in HIPCs. Poverty reduction and economic development need a stable base of agricultural production, particularly since a high percentage of people in the developing world depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. In this regard, science-based agricultural improvements can play an important role. For example, recent developments and new breakthroughs in molecular and cell biology (often included under the umbrella of the word “biotechnology”) provide more and new sophisticated tools for the genetic betterment of crops, livestock, and fish, thereby improving yield potential—even under stress or in marginal environments—as well as the nutritional value of their food. Accordingly, it has become critical for development investors, such as the World Bank, to review advances made in applied agricultural biotechnology and to analyze how these advances can benefit the poor.

An analysis of biotechnological crop improvement should take a holistic approach while recognizing at the same time the unique needs of HIPCs. It should consider the benefits to people working and living in the agro-ecosystem rather than just the plant species. The key issue here is feeding a growing population while protecting the environment. Poor people must meet basic needs, and biotechnology has a roll to play here. At the same time, it must be kept in mind that the poorest people in the developing world live in distinct agricultural and economic zones, face different health problems, and must overcome agronomic constraints that are not the same as those in the northern hemisphere (39 out of 42 HIPC are in tropical or desert (i.e., arid and semi-arid) environments and the other 3 in temperate zones). Futhermore, what is valuable biotechnology in the industrial world is not necessarily directly beneficial to the developing world, and vice-versa. This is one reason why biotechnology applications that benefit HIPCs have been only recently developed. A good example is vitamin A rice, or so-called “GoldenRice”. This rice is genetically engineered to produce vitamin A, which gives the rice grains a light gold color. In many areas of the world where rice is a basic staple, thousands of poor people every year lose their eyesight because of vitamin A deficiency. This new rice variety could deliver vitamin A directly to the poor in their staple food. Vitamin A deficiency is not a problem in the industrial world, but it is obviously of great benefit Asia’s rural poor.

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