Proponents of GM crops claim that we need such technology to address hunger and to feed a growing global population. “There are 7.2 billion people on the planet. There will be 9.6 billion by 2050. The demand for food will double… [Using GM food and data science is] the only thing that will enable us to feed the planet without encroaching on the forests and wetlands….This represents a business opportunity, but from a societal perspective, it's very important.” declared Robert Fraley, CEO of Monsanto. “It is shameful to me that the leaders of some South African countries who are apparently well-fed, would rather see their populations go hungry then eat the same food we consume daily in the United States .” expounded US Republican Senator Charles Grassley.
The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) has just released a fully referenced report on such concerns and finds hunger is caused by poverty and inequality. It found that the world already produce enough food to feed the world's population and did so even at the peak of the world food crisis in 2008. Current global food production provides enough to feed ten billion people. The world produces 17 percent more food per person than it did 30 years ago and yet the number of food insecure people is still very high.
People are generally hungry not because of insufficient agricultural production but because they do not have money to buy food, access to land to grow food or because of complex problems like food spoilage, poor food distribution systems and a lack of reliable water and infrastructure for irrigation, storage, transport and financing.
Their reports says if these deeper problems are not addressed and as long as food is not reaching those who are hungry and poor, increased agricultural production will not help reduce food insecurity. The recent food price crises of 2008 and 2011 both took place in years of record global harvests, clearly showing that these crises were not the result of scarcity.
In regards to GM the report explains that GM crops that are on the market today are not designed to address hunger. Four GM crops account for almost 100 percent of worldwide GM crop acreage. All four have been developed for large-scale industrial farming systems and are used as cash crops for export, to produce fuel or for processed food and animal feed. GM crops have not increased yields and do not increase farmers' incomes. GM crops lead to an increase in pesticide use and cause further harm to the environment. Pesticide reduction was the primary selling point for Bt cotton adoption in India , but overall pesticide use has not decreased in any state that grows Bt cotton, with the exception of Andhra Pradesh. GM crops are patented and owned by large corporations. These companies profit from the sale of GM crops and royalties on GM traits, while small-scale farmers round the world bear the increased cost of buying seeds and the risks that come with using GM crops. GM crops reduce choice but increase risk for farmers, while the likes of Monsanto dominate the GM agri-tech sector and rake in enormous profits.
The main message of the CBAN report is that hunger, food security and ‘feeding the world' is a political, social and economic problem and no amount of gene splicing is capable of surmounting obstacles like poor roads, inadequate rural credit systems and insufficient irrigation. The answer to food security, food democracy and local/national food sovereignty does not lie with making farmers dependent on a few large corporations whose bottom line is exploiting agriculture to maximise profit. The CBAN report concludes that we need to support diverse, vibrant and sustainable agro-ecological methods of farming and develop locally-based food economies. After all, it is small farms and peasant farmers (more often than not serving local communities) that are more productive than giant industrial (export-oriented) farms and which produce most of the world's food on much less land . It also states that experience with GM crops shows that the application of GM technology is more likely to enhance and entrench the social, economic and environmental problems created by industrial agriculture and corporate control.
From an article by Colin Todhunter on the Countercurrent website
The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) has just released a fully referenced report on such concerns and finds hunger is caused by poverty and inequality. It found that the world already produce enough food to feed the world's population and did so even at the peak of the world food crisis in 2008. Current global food production provides enough to feed ten billion people. The world produces 17 percent more food per person than it did 30 years ago and yet the number of food insecure people is still very high.
People are generally hungry not because of insufficient agricultural production but because they do not have money to buy food, access to land to grow food or because of complex problems like food spoilage, poor food distribution systems and a lack of reliable water and infrastructure for irrigation, storage, transport and financing.
Their reports says if these deeper problems are not addressed and as long as food is not reaching those who are hungry and poor, increased agricultural production will not help reduce food insecurity. The recent food price crises of 2008 and 2011 both took place in years of record global harvests, clearly showing that these crises were not the result of scarcity.
In regards to GM the report explains that GM crops that are on the market today are not designed to address hunger. Four GM crops account for almost 100 percent of worldwide GM crop acreage. All four have been developed for large-scale industrial farming systems and are used as cash crops for export, to produce fuel or for processed food and animal feed. GM crops have not increased yields and do not increase farmers' incomes. GM crops lead to an increase in pesticide use and cause further harm to the environment. Pesticide reduction was the primary selling point for Bt cotton adoption in India , but overall pesticide use has not decreased in any state that grows Bt cotton, with the exception of Andhra Pradesh. GM crops are patented and owned by large corporations. These companies profit from the sale of GM crops and royalties on GM traits, while small-scale farmers round the world bear the increased cost of buying seeds and the risks that come with using GM crops. GM crops reduce choice but increase risk for farmers, while the likes of Monsanto dominate the GM agri-tech sector and rake in enormous profits.
The main message of the CBAN report is that hunger, food security and ‘feeding the world' is a political, social and economic problem and no amount of gene splicing is capable of surmounting obstacles like poor roads, inadequate rural credit systems and insufficient irrigation. The answer to food security, food democracy and local/national food sovereignty does not lie with making farmers dependent on a few large corporations whose bottom line is exploiting agriculture to maximise profit. The CBAN report concludes that we need to support diverse, vibrant and sustainable agro-ecological methods of farming and develop locally-based food economies. After all, it is small farms and peasant farmers (more often than not serving local communities) that are more productive than giant industrial (export-oriented) farms and which produce most of the world's food on much less land . It also states that experience with GM crops shows that the application of GM technology is more likely to enhance and entrench the social, economic and environmental problems created by industrial agriculture and corporate control.
From an article by Colin Todhunter on the Countercurrent website
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