Agricultural biotechnology will help reduce hunger and malnutrition
worldwide, particularly now that the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) reported that the number of hungry people around the world has
increased by 40 million.

Dr. Rhodora Aldemita, senior program officer of the International Service
for the Acquisition of AgriBiotech Applications (ISAAA), stressed that
biotechnology is a most viable alternative system to boost yields of crops
that have been genetically enhanced to provide consumers with adequate
nutrients.

Aldemita said agricultural biotechnology has succeeded in increasing yields
while reducing dependence on chemical-based fertilizers, pesticides,
nematicides, and herbicides.

She revealed that Filipino biotechnologists have already succeeded in arming
crops with resistance to pests, like the development of papaya ringspot
virus (PRSV)- resistant papaya, the first of its kind in the world.

Many plant scientists have considered papaya as the most nutritious fruit on
the planet and have encouraged more people to consume the fruit and thus
reduce the incidence of malnutrition.

Among the most successful genetically modified crops in the country is
Bacillus thuringiensis (B)t corn, which was introduced in Philippine farms
in 2002.

Through advances in plant biotechnology, Aldemita said, it is now more than
possible to improve the nutritional quality of food.

Numerous biotechnological studies to improve the nutritional quality of
crops have been conducted and Vitamin A rice, or Golden Rice, is one
example.

Work is also being done to develop maize with low phytic acid and increased
iron absorption, canola and soybean seeds with increased lysine, an
essential amino acid usually absent in grains, iron-rich rice with soybean
ferritin gene, and potato with increased inulin, a low-calorie fiber for
increased mineral absorption and colon-cancer prevention.

Not only does biotechnology increase the nutritional value of a crop, but it
also helps in ensuring that the crops reach more people in their best state
through the introduction of delayed ripening characteristics.

While food prices have dropped since early 2008, this development has not
provided relief to the hungry in many impoverished nations, FAO Assistant
Director-General Hafez Ghanem said.

To overcome this situation, FAO is promoting the wider cultivation of
better-yielding, nutritious crops in developing nations.

Through access to better farming techniques and increased yield, many
impoverished people, millions of whom are actually landless peasants, may be
able to produce their own food and thus be spared from the pangs of hunger.
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