Should genetically modified food technologies be used to solve hunger issues?

“Close to a billion people – one-eighth of the world’s population – still live in hunger. Each year 2 million children die through malnutrition. This is happening at a time when doctors in Britain are warning of the spread of obesity. We are eating too much while others starve.” Jonathan Sacks

A recurring problem like world hunger and food insecurity has the potential to turn the whole world into arid zones. Around 1000 years ago human abandoned hunting and started practicing crop culture and agriculture, much more food was produced in fewer efforts. As time goes by we have altered the genetic makeup of our crops for increasing yield. By using advanced technologies genetic codes of other microorganism are injected into plant genome at the specific locus to make hybrids which is more advanced and productive. Hybridization, grafting or random mutation from radiation or chemical treatments has given rise to many of our current crops, for example, golden rice. Unfortunately, food security doesn’t exist for a significant part of the world. It is estimated over 900 million people are undersupplied with calories.  

Eradicating world hunger is the prime part of one of US policy goals but how it will happen is still contradictory. Some consider GM crops developments contribute to food production and improve the availability of food at global. On the other hand, some of the data suggest that GM crops barely affect food safety and quality. This could increase food demand when it gets commercialized. The environment relevance of GM crops is important with regard to creating food security in developing countries because hunger demands of a growing population is a critical challenge that human society faces currently. GM Crops alone can’t solve the problem, but they can be an important factor to establish several pillars to deprive food shortage.

Despite all the facts, in 2011 data registered by world food organization clear expressed 8% increase of overall world food production which is mean about 160 million hectares of biotech crops. Though most of these crops were used to feed the livestock, they also took up significant portions of all the processed food sold to humans.

Gmo foods Pros and Cons

Environment- it is observed a large section of soil affected by chemicals used to germinate modified crops which affect biotic and abiotic components of fertilized soil. GM crops are generally herbicide resistant and making the crops safe for consumption. However, the residue that is left after the harvesting leaves its residue on soil which impacts indirectly to other species. Similarly, if this residue is mixed with water, it affects aquatic life. A study reveals that by this weeds become resistant through the anthropogenic act.

Health- Most of GM crops is harvested for the purpose of making food quality better and weed resistant. This cause is opposite to driven facts. While food production increases, it is to be noted that the nutritional value of GM crops decreases. So even if you consume foods, you won’t be sure if it provides enough calories or not. On the other hand, these crops are grown by using high technologies which make their market value higher than a normal person can’t afford. The main purpose of the biotech industry is to get control over the food market. Initially capitalism driven inventions might help lessen hunger, but in the long run, by supporting the production of GM crops, we end up supporting capitalists to monopolize one of the world’s biggest industries – the food industry. Though biotech industries claim to eradicate hunger when and how it will always a questionable topic

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Five ways to fight against hunger-

•    Vertical farming- the way of growing crop is in stacked layers. This eliminates the need of using pesticide and herbicide.

•    Curb Food Wastage: An easy way to start fighting food wastage is to shop mindfully, keep your serving sizes in check, and save leftovers

•    Genetically Modified Organisms: The debate for and against will continue in developed countries, but GMOs could be a boon for the developing world. Humanitarian organizations could use GMOs to address specific nutritional problems in developing countries, saving millions from death, disease, and suffering.

•     Grow meat in labs: Scientists are able to extract stem cells from cattle to grow them into full portion servings in Petri dishes and has been accomplished by several in vitro meat companies. These companies assure that their products are healthier and tastier than conventional meat options. Growing meat in a lab instead of on-farm reduces greenhouse gas emissions up to 96 percent and uses 99 percent less land.

•    Overcome cultural taboos and eat new foods: Changes in food supply will mean a change in what we put on our plates and that could have us venturing into unfamiliar food groups. While insects are typically rare in Western cuisine they are included in the diets of over two billion people in the world and have historically been included in some Asian, African, and Latin American cuisines, and even considered delicacies in some regions.