Genetically Modified Crops: Advancing Agriculture through Science

The world population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050 and the growing rate of food consumption results in a significant increase in the demand for agricultural production. In 2018, approximately 9.2% of global population experienced severe food insecurity and hunger problems. Among various solutions to overcome this major global threat, genetically modified (GM) technology is most quickly adopted agricultural approach. Genetically modified crops can definitely contribute vital benefits for our society in terms of food security, sustainability and economic prosperity of farmers. First, GM crops would support sufficient foods with high nutritional values for growing population by improving the yield and quality of crops. Between 1996 and 2012, GM crops delivered a global yield increase of 377 million tons. Since GM crops produce the higher yield from the same arable land, they would combat the hunger issues and fulfill the food demand of growing global population. Moreover, GM crops are capable of producing more nutritious foods with multiple vitamins and minerals to alleviate malnutrition problems. For instance, Golden Rice that is genetically modified with the precursor of vitamin-A. Severe vitamin A deficiency is responsible for 500,000 cases of irreversible blindness, and up to 2 million deaths of children per year. About 150g of Golden Rice can support enough vitamin-A for a child per day, thereby providing a solution for vitamin-A deficiency in rice-eating population. Second, a range of environmental benefits have been identified for GM crops, including positive effects on input use and indirect effects on ecosystems. The emission of greenhouse gas (GHG) from agriculture has become an important issue within the debate on GHG emission reduction. Agriculture has been estimated to contribute to about 15% of annual global GHG emissions.

According to a UN (2008) report, GM crops can provide a solution toward reducing GHG. Therefore, GM technology holds out further hope of increasing the productivity of agricultural land. In addition, Wood (1995) pointed out that some of the successful applications for yielded environmental benefits such as insect resistant apples, herbicide tolerant corn and soybeans. Finally, several studies highlighted the multiple benefits of farm income derived from GM crops. For example, an estimate cost savings by farmers planting herbicide tolerance (HT) soybean was $73.1/ha in 2016, which is almost three times higher compared to the early years of adoption. The annual total national farm income benefit from HT soybean has dramatically risen from $5 million in 1996, to approximately $159.8 million in 2016. Farmers can get more profits from GM crops by making plants yield higher when compared to conventional crops. Some people might disagree and claim that GM foods may be detrimental to human health. This may be true, however, most of the researchers observed that there are no apparent correlations between GM foods and the health problems. European Commission (2010) mentioned that GM organisms are not more risky than conventional plant breeding technologies according to the results of over 500 independent research groups in 25 years for more than 130 research projects. Different kinds of GM crops and health problems are tested by many researchers and all found that there were not statistical differences between GM crops and conventional crops and represented no risk. Genetically modified crops currently available on the international market can support safe foods and improvement of nutrition values which will be beneficial for long-term healthy life of the world population. In conclusion, GM crops should be grown because they can grant food security for global human population, long-term agriculture and environmental sustainability and economic benefits of farmers. In future, utilization of GM crops will be more acceptable as the alternative for producing sufficient foods for growing populations, reducing utilization of agrochemicals and a potential way to alleviate poverty of farmers.

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