Decreasing the regulations on genetically modified crops could be a valuable strategy in combatting the growing deficit between food supply and global hunger, according to a new report from the National Center for Policy Analysis.
Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug’s use of biotechnology in farming has been credited with saving nearly a billion lives and pushing the boundaries of conventional farming. Placing limitations on the advancements of Borlaug and other pioneers “only hurts the world’s starving population,” says NCPA Research Associate David Weisser.
Around the globe, biotech crops have been used to increase the yield of crops used for both food and fuel. The study notes that:
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In India, the adoption of biotech cotton has reduced both the need for pesticides and increased agricultural yields, raised the incomes of cotton farmers and farm laborers, and creating a more environmentally friendly, technologically advanced agricultural economy.
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Through the use of biotech sugar, Brazil has increased the average annual sugar yield by 20 tons per hectare. The country now produces and uses enough sugarcane ethanol to downgrade gasoline to an alternative fuel.
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88 percent of the corn grown in the United States has been altered utilizing biotechnology.
“Global hunger will only continue to increase and combating it will not be easy, yet the world is fortunate in that a wealth of research is dedicated to the advancement of farming,” says Weisser. “Through advanced research and new farming methods, hunger can be fought and conquered.”