- World hunger is not the result of food shortage, and opposition to gene-edited crops, but due to political strife.
- Global food production is sufficient to feed all, but skewed distribution systems create a huge shortfall in countries.
- Analysis shows that even if GMOs were adopted globally, food shortage will persist.
Globally, Genetically Modified (GM) crops have been touted as the magic wand that could end world hunger. The ability of gene-edited crops to produce more over shorter periods of time and their resistance to diseases has been lauded. Further, GMO’s ability to resist poor weather conditions occasioned by climate crisis are earning them acceptance across nations.
These traits make Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) a solution to global food shortage. Increasingly, naturally maturing crops are yielding little, and their long gestation periods leave them vulnerable to climate crisis. Further their vulnerability to pests and diseases drastically cuts yields, exacerbating food shortages.
GM crops increase harvests, incomes
“GM crops could contribute to food production increases and higher food availability. There may also be impacts on food quality and nutrient composition,” a report on National Geographic states.
Due to higher productivity, GMOs, both crops and animals, can significantly increase harvests and farmers’ incomes.
For instance, through the use of “comprehensive data collected over several years from farm households in India, where the adoption of GM cotton has significantly improved calorie consumption and dietary quality, resulting from increased family incomes.”
These findings add that GMO technology reduced food insecurity by 15–20 percent among cotton-producing households in India. About 20 years ago, a gene-edited cotton variety, Bt cotton, was introduced in India. It was meant to help reduce farmers’ use of insecticides. Today, about 80 percent of the cotton grown across India is Bt cotton.
Global hunger levels are on the rise. Data shows that over “800 million people around the world suffer from malnutrition and of these, 150 million are children under the age of five years and about three million of these children suffer and die each year.”
Read also: AgriTech: Africa’s pathway to end food insecurity
Ability to resist pests and diseases
According to the UN, gene-edited crops possessing genes from different species could possibly relieve global food shortages. The UN adds that the adoption of high-yielding drops that also carry the ability to resist pests and diseases will enhance food security. With higher yields, families will easily fight poverty and help protect the environment. Overall, once adopted, a significant number of countries will become self-reliant on food.
It is with such consideration that GMOs appear to offer a sound solution to global food needs, but concerns abound. Currently, the global supply of GMOs is seen to favor a handful companies that own the technology to produce seeds.
This implies that these few companies will earn the lion’s share of global spending on food and suddenly create a huge wealth gap. If the producing companies fail, then the whole world’s food supply crumbles.
Take biotech giants Monsanto and AstraZeneca, for instance. They have already said they will not commercialise the seed-sterilisation technology or “terminator”, a move that “turns off” a plant’s ability to germinate a second time. But, already they lead the biotech industry in owning tens of key patents controlling critical plant germination processes.
Allergic reactions in humans
This privatisation of gene-edited seed technology leaves millions of smallholder farmers in Africa, who depend on seed propagation materials saved from one season to plant in the next at a huge loss.
Additionally, there is the question of costs. A significant number of smallholder farmers may find it hard to acquire GMOs. Consequently, this will make these high-yielding crops and organisms a preserve for the wealthy.
Given that attitudes and perceptions toward gene-edited crops tend to correlate with literacy levels, there is a concern that farmers in Africa may be hesitant to adopt them.
Then there are the other concerns, are GMOs safe, in the long run? There are concerns that GMOs may trigger allergic reactions in humans. Equally, there are fears GMOs may harm to non-GMO plants and animals in a given area.
“Whether based on legitimate concerns or lack of scientific information and understanding, local rejection of GM crops has the potential to derail efforts to use these crops as a tool against malnutrition,” authors of a report published by National Geographic titled ‘Are Genetically Modified Crops the Answer to World Hunger?’
Even with GMOs, food shortage persists
However, even if these concerns are allayed, will nations fix food security? Available analysis shows that even if GMOs were adopted globally, food shortage will persist.
Read also: Africa’s readiness for GMOs amid food security concerns
“We already live in a world that produces enough food to feed everyone. Thus, hunger results from inequity, not food shortage!” notes the National Geographic report.
The report, which cites authorities WHO, WFP, UNICEF and the UN says; “unequal distribution of quality food among communities suffering from poverty is the primary culprit in today’s world hunger, not abundance or quantity of food stocks.”
Further, it is not for the lack of food, but the means to access it that sees millions of children die of hunger every year.
Access to food depends on a variety of political, environmental, and socioeconomic factors. Apparently, governments and the “invisible hands of supply and demand” are to blame for unending food shortages.
Quite often, authorities create policies that allow wealthy food producers to supply to wealthy persons for profits. Across the economies, land is costly, seeds and fertilisers are expensive, too. These costs push the poor further away from realising food security.
“When viewed through this lens, GM crops may have a role to play in combatting global hunger, but merely increasing crop production or nutritional value (via any method) will not solve the larger problem of inequity in access to food,” National Geographic explains.
Before people in poor nations raise arms against the wealthy food producers (and hoarders), National Geographic notes, “data shows that political unrest is the primary driver of hunger.”
Human action fueling global food insecurity
It is for these reasons that even the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number two: Zero Hunger, which purports to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture,” does not solely look at increasing food production rather, it seeks to address the complex paradox behind human action that lays behind global food insecurity.
Through this goal, the UN calls for political action and reduction of violence. It is also seeking agricultural and technical innovations to end poverty. Further, by enhancing education, this can work as a basis for ending world hunger.
Most likely, it is human greed that is keeping the available food from those who need it most, children.
