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Genetic engineering not an answer to hunger: Expert
New Delhi, Dec 30: Genetic engineering is not an answer to hunger as is increasingly made out to be, an expert says in a new report, stating hunger and malnutrition exist not because of lack of production but for lack of access and distribution.
New Delhi, Dec 30: Genetic engineering is not an answer to hunger as is increasingly made out to be, an expert says in a new report, stating hunger and malnutrition exist not because of lack of production but for lack of access and distribution.
"Genetic engineering cannot make food at a cheaper cost. In fact, all indicators point towards still higher prices for food in the coming years," Devinder Sharma of the forum for biotechnology and food security writes in `GM food and hunger: a view from the south', released here today.
The GM technology has often been advertised and promoted as a way of providing consumers with a greater choice of food and a possible way to solve the global problem of hunger and food shortages, the report says.
"Unfortunately, what is being conveniently overlooked is the fact that hunger and malnutrition exist not because of production but for a lack of access and distribution," the report says.
In 2000, India had a record food surplus of 44 million tonnes, including 24 million tonnes required for the buffer, according to the report.
While the government was asking farmers to diversify from rice and wheat to cash crops, the national agricultural policy had projected an annual growth rate in food grains at four per cent to meet the growing food requirements in the years to come, it says.
Bureau Report
"Genetic engineering cannot make food at a cheaper cost. In fact, all indicators point towards still higher prices for food in the coming years," Devinder Sharma of the forum for biotechnology and food security writes in `GM food and hunger: a view from the south', released here today.
The GM technology has often been advertised and promoted as a way of providing consumers with a greater choice of food and a possible way to solve the global problem of hunger and food shortages, the report says.
"Unfortunately, what is being conveniently overlooked is the fact that hunger and malnutrition exist not because of production but for a lack of access and distribution," the report says.
In 2000, India had a record food surplus of 44 million tonnes, including 24 million tonnes required for the buffer, according to the report.
While the government was asking farmers to diversify from rice and wheat to cash crops, the national agricultural policy had projected an annual growth rate in food grains at four per cent to meet the growing food requirements in the years to come, it says.
Bureau Report