Solve The Problem Of World Hunger: Genetically Modified Organisms
Hunger is prevalent in many areas of the world. Many experts have different ideas to solve today’s hunger problems; one of which is using current crop production technology such as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) to ensure farmers obtain maximum yields. The bottom line, regardless of how it is accomplished, is to generate more food. How will that happen? A common thought is that GMO commodities must be utilized as a standard tool in the process to eradicate hunger might be a poor solution. Is this the only way? There are many methods out there to increase crop production that are not as expensive, nor as politically-motivated as GMO production. GMOs are just one of the most recent inventions that help our modern-day farmer meet or exceed his expected yields. These GMOs are specially designed to be pest-resistant, drought tolerant, and chemically superior, which all comes with a cost. In order to have all of these traits, the seed comes at a higher price. These high costs create too much financial burden on the small growers. This might increase production for some, but it will cause the small family farms to potentially go out of business. Maybe instead of increasing production with GMOs, the government could do better research to ensure bad famine years are accurately predicted and prepared for. According to Indian economist, Amartya Sen, it isn’t the lack of food as a whole, it is the lack of food for those in need. This means growing more food would not solve the problem.
Once again, many years later it was discovered that the cost of food was the problem; meaning we are back to the availability issue and not the issue that stems from the amount of food being produced. Even though increasing crop production by use of GMOs may appear to address the world’s hunger problems, it will cause farmers to change their ways and become more commercialized. This might results in both positive and negative effects. The overall goal for the GMO industry is to produce more commodities, food higher in nutrients and higher profits for our farmers which fall into the benefit category. The negative impact is affordability for some of these smaller family operations that just can’t afford to continually purchase seeds year after year. It may seem logical for those well-off farmers who have the funds to farm with GMO technology, but overall, basic farming strategies that allow partnership with other like-industries could be the answer because the problem really isn’t about hunger; it is about availability.
References
- Moseley, W. G. (2017). A risky solution for the wrong problem: why GMOs won't feed the hungry of the world.
- The Geographical Review, 107(4), 578+. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.libproxy.umcrookston.edu/apps/doc/A514097689/AONE?u=mnaumcl&sid=AONE&xid=991d5e2b
