GM crops: the need for right technology

By Sakiko Fukuda-Parr

There are some 800 million people who do not have adequate food, and 1.2 billion people in the world who live on only $1 a day. Genetically Modified (GM) crops are not a silver bullet that can feed them. At the root of poverty and hunger are complex social, political and economic reasons why there is more food than the world's six billion people need yet so many are hungry. There is no substitute for public policies that empower poor people with jobs, education, health, equitable opportunities, sustainable environment and natural resources, and governance that assures social justice and a level playing field.

Nonetheless, investing in more research and development of GM crops is a promising avenue for accelerating progress in tackling global poverty and hunger. More than half of the world's poorest people depend on agriculture, many living in environments where crop failures are frequent due to drought and other natural catastrophes. They have little alternative but to continue to rely on farming, fishing and keeping livestock: increasing their productivity is a key to securing their livelihoods.

Past agricultural research and productivity gains benefited the staple crops of many developing countries but left out some of the poorest farmers and countries. Wheat yields in Asia are now four times what they were in 1960 (2.7 tonnes per hectare compared with 0.7 tonnes) and rice yields have doubled from 1.9 to 4 tonnes per hectare. In sharp contrast, yields of sorghum and millet in sub-Saharan Africa have not increased since the 1960s. Many sub-Saharan African countries have become food importers, something they can ill-afford because their export earnings have not increased and their overall economic growth has been stagnant.

Improving food security for the world's poorest farmers means improving their productivity. The new tools of biotechnology offer the potential for creating crop varieties that meet the challenges of farming that they face - varieties that are more tolerant of drought or saline soils. Relatively little has been done to explore this potential so far and the GM crop development has been concentrated in industrialised countries, focusing on crops and characteristics of little relevance to those farmers.Recognising the potential of GM crops for developing countries does not imply rejecting the potential and importance of other forms of agricultural progress - notably those based on organic or other systems of sustainable agriculture and indigenous knowledge. Technology is an expression of human creativity and in developing countries today, efforts are under way to utilise a whole range of knowledge systems, resulting in ground-breaking innovations, such as malaria drugs in Vietnam that combined traditional knowledge with modern science.

A wide array of technologies is needed to promote human development, but at this point in time, new technologies call for particular attention because they are driving today's technological transformation and, together with globalisation, are transforming development challenges. Policy choices are being made that will shape the path of technology development and access, with present and future interests of developing countries at stake. These policy concerns include public investment (or rather the pitiful lack of) in technology; excessive private sector ownership of and control over tools of technology that are clearly of tremendous public concern; TRIPS negotiations and implementation and public opinion of and involvement in assessing the risks of technological change.

Indeed, the current private sector dominance of GM technology risks locking it into a property rights system, where a few large firms own the patents and control use of plant materials and GM techniques, eroding competitive markets and threatening both farmers' traditional varieties and the role of international and national public agricultural research alike. This problem is not specific to agriculture it is recurring across different technological innovations, especially in health and the development of new medicines.

Hence, the need for greatly increased international and public sector investment in research and development to ensure that the tools of technology address people's needs, not just market demand. Likewise, new strategies for managing intellectual property are needed to ensure access to the tools for research and development - and on the basis of policy not charity.

GM crop technology development is likely to benefit the poor only if the right technology is developed in the right way and put into the right hands. It is public institutions that must lead the way in tapping the potential to benefit the poor, researching crops and characteristics with and for poor farmers to meet their needs. Strong environmental and health safeguards must be put in place through building institutions and regulatory frameworks in developing countries. National and global intellectual property policies must be implemented in a way that does not block the diffusion of products with high social benefits. Participatory processes in shaping decisions regarding GM crops are essential, both at the country and community level.

Farmers have been innovators for centuries and technological progress can accelerate that process. The potential of modern biotechnology to do so deserves serious investment.

As Mr. M. S. Swaminathan, Winner of the World Food Prize in 1997, says, ``How can we ensure that the evergreen revolution movement based on genetic and digital technologies is characterised by social and gender inclusiveness? The answer... was given by Mahatma Gandhi more than 70 years ago. `Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest person you've seen and ask yourself if the steps you contemplate are going to be of any use to him.'... My nearly 40 years experience... have led me to postulate two basic guidelines in the design of technology testing and dissemination programmes. If demonstrations and testing are organised in the fields of resource-poor farmers, all farmers benefit, the reverse may not happen. If women are empowered with technological information and skills, all members of the family benefit, the reverse may not happen.'' Technology can be a tool for human development - the role of good public policy is to shape the course of its progress to make it happen. That public policies, nationally and globally, have so far fallen far short of that task is a compelling reason to rethink and reform, not to condemn technology.

(The writer is Director, Human Development Report Office, United Nations Development Programme).

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