Presentation at the November 2012 dialogue workshop of the Biosciences for Farming in Africa media fellowship programme in Arusha, Tanzania. Please see www.b4fa.org for more information

1. GM Crops in the Field Now and in the
Future
Chris Leaver
chris.leaver@plants.ox.ac.uk

2. What Limits Yield in the Field ?
TEMPERATURE

3. The scientific basis of all crop improvement is identification of the
genes that encode and regulate specific phenotypic characteristics or
traits of use to the farmer.
REDUCED STRESSES
Biotic and Abiotic
• Drought or
• Pests and
Flooding
Diseases
• High or low
• Weeds
Temperature
• Saline or
. Phyto-remediation
acid soils
. Increased
greenhouse
gases- Tolerance
to
climate change NUTRITION
IMPROVED
AND HEALTH
Quality Traits
• Vitamins & Minerals
• Biofortification
• Post harvest quality
• Taste
• Proteins
• Oils and Fats
IMPROVED PLANT
PERFORMANCE
MORE
SUSTAINABLE
PRODUCTION
Environment
• Nutrient use efficiency
• Water use efficiency
• Control of flowering
• Plant architecture
• Heterosis
• Yield
Plant Gene
Technology
NEW
INDUSTRIES
• Carbohydrates
• Fibre & Digestible
energy
• Bloat Safety
CHEMICAL
FEEDSTOCKS
• Biodegradable
Plastics
• Biofuels
PHARMACEUTICALS
• Vaccines
• Antibodies
• Diagnostics

4. Plant pests: The biggest threats to
food security?
• The threat posed to crop production by plant
pests and diseases is one the key factors that
could lead to "a perfect storm" that threatens
to destabilise global food security.Already, the
biological threat accounts for about a 40% loss
in global production and the problem is
forecast to get worse.
• By a pest/disease I mean an insect, fungus,
virus, bacteria, nematode

5. “One for the rook,
One for the crow
One for to rot
and one for to
grow!”
The World Agricultural Cake
CROP PROTECTION ESSENTIAL
TO MAXIMISE HARVEST

6. Efficient Pest Control is based on
Integrated Pest management (IPM):
• Pesticides/Herbicides (Agrichemicals)
• Biological control, including the use of natural
enemies
• Host plant resistance, by plant breeding or
making genetically modified/enhanced crops
• Moving from Chemical Solutions to Biological
Solutions

7. Large Scale-Prarie Agriculture in USA,South America and Australia
The majority of crops are sprayed many times in a growing
season to combat weeds and pests. Cotton can receive up to
10 to 12 sprays.Aubergine 30 or 40 sprays in India.

8. Cavendish Banana with Black Sigatoka
Nigeria
Courtesy IPGRI
Courtesy IPGRI

9. Genetically Modified Crops in
Agriculture Today
• Input traits of obvious benefits to producers
(agrochemical companies and farmers) but not yet
obvious to the consumer
• Including resistance to herbicides, insects and viral
disease

10. The first generation of GM traits were designed to complement the use of agrichemicals and
provide better pest and weed control and involved the transfer of a single gene from a
bacterium. One conferred resistance to a herbicide the other to specific classes of boring
insect pests.
Stacked traits are becoming the norm and introduced into range of crops including rice

11. Weeds compete with crops for:
Water
Nutrients
Soil
Weeds harbour insect and disease
pests
Noxious weeds can greatly
undermine crop quality
Weeds can clog irrigation and
drainage systems causing
flooding problems
Competition from weeds
Result: >92% of corn, >95% of
soybean acres are treated with
herbicides
Competition from weeds can reduce yields,
harbour pests and contaminate the harvest

12. ROUNDUP
Glyphosate –the most widely
used weed-killer (herbicide) in
the world
N-(Phosphonomethyl) - glycine
HERBICIDE RESISTANCE
conferred by a single amino
acid mutation in the active
site of the target enzyme
(EPSPS) and insertion of the
gene into crops.CP4 gene
derived from Agrobacterium
sp.
Introduction of a bacterial gene from
Agrobacterium for EPSPS with an
amino acid mutation in the active site
which renders the enzyme resistant to
glyphosate

13. GM Example: Herbicide resistance
Plants compete with other
plants for sunlight and
nutrients. Many farmers
use herbicides to eliminate
weeds (undesired plants)
from their fields.
Left – corn rows sprayed with herbicide to eliminate competing plants
Right – corn being choked by giant foxtail (Setaria faberi)
Photo credit: Doug Buhler, Bugwood.org

14. COMPARISON: GM VS NON-GM
SUGAR BEET
COMPARISON: GM VS NON-GM
SOYBEAN

15. Conservation Tillage
• Maize crop planted 4 weeks before the picture
• Less labour/energy
• Residue from previous crop will be 90% degraded
by end of summer with increase in soil organic
matter (CO2 sink) and reduced erosion

16. Environmental Conservation:
Less inputs
• Lower inputs of pesticides (fewer applications)¹
• Conservation tillage/zero till systems
soil preservation/carbon sink
water retention
increased weed cover
less tractor/fuel use
reduced run-off²
• Improved biodiversity fauna
and flora³
‘Roundup’ tolerant soybeans can be
planted with no-till procedures,which
eliminate plowing (saving fuel),
saves water and use a biodegradable
herbicide

17. Insect Resistant Crops
Insects not only kill crops and reduce crop yield
they also spread other diseases such as viruses,
bacteria and fungi from plant to plant

18. Insects/ Aphids spread
Aphids
fungal,
bacterial and viral diseases
Aphids act as vectors for
Potato aphids Viruses and Bacterial and
Fungal Spores
Damage in Storage
and In Transit Due to
Insect Infestation

19. Also called a protein toxin because it kills insects
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)
a naturally occuring bacteria
that lives in the soil

21. The Bt protein is a Natural Bacterial Insecticide
The Gene is Easily Isolated
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) produces an insecticidal protein
WIDELY USED BY ORGANIC FARMERS FOR OVER 50 Years and has no
affect on any animals including humans

22. Bt Proteins Have a Long History
of Safe Consumption
• Derived from naturally occurring Bacillus thuringiensis
• Microbial products contain mixtures of Bt proteins
• CryIAb protein has > 50 year history of safe use
• Dipel® and other commercial microbial products
• Subjected to extensive safety testing around the world, used by
Soil Association
•
•
•
•
Acute (LD50: >3 to >5 g/kg)
Subchronic (NOELs: 0.5 to >8.4 g/kg/day)
Chronic (NOEL = 8.4 g/kg/day)
Humans (no effect at 1 g/day for up to 5 days)

23. GM Example: Insect resistance
through introduction of the Bt gene
Wild-type peanut plant
Peanut plant expressing the Bt gene
Photo by Herb Pilcher USDA

24. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacteria
produce insecticidal proteins
Bacillus thuringiensis
Bacillus
thuringiensis
expressing Bt
toxin
expressing insecticidal Bt
toxin can be sprayed onto
plants
Plant cell
expressing Bt
toxin
Or the plants can be
engineered to express the
Bt gene coding for Bt toxin

25. The effect of Bt toxin is highly
specific
Intestine
Bacillus
thuringiensis
expressing Bt
toxin
Processing
Plant cell
expressing Bt
toxin
Receptor
binding
Intestinal
lumen
The Bt toxin affects only some insects
because to be effective it has to be
processed and bind to a specific
receptor protein

26. The effect of Bt toxin is highly
specific
Intestine
Bacillus
thuringiensis
expressing Bt
toxin
Plant cell
expressing Bt
toxin
After binding, the insecticidal proteins
assemble to form a pore in the lining of
the insect intestine which kills the insect
Pore
assembly

29. Conventional cotton
Unprotected
Bt-Protected
Bt Protected Cotton

30. Bt cotton gives 15% yield
increase under low to moderate
pest infestation; insecticide use
reduced by 2/3 in Burkina Faso
SOURCE: Vitale, J., Glick, H., Greenplate, J., Abdennadher, M. and Traoré, O. 2008. Second-Generation Bt
Cotton Field Trials in Burkina Faso: Analyzing the Potential Benefits to West African Farmers. Crop Science 48:
1958-1966.

32. Insect-Protected Corn
®)
Targets (YieldGard
Field
•European Corn Borer
•Pink Borer
Larvae
•Asian Corn Borer
•Fall Army Worm
Adult
Stored Grain
•Indian Mealmoth
•Angoumois Grain Moth
Advantages
• Reduction in pesticide use
• Improved insect control
• Increased yield
• Up to 90% reduction in mycotoxin content

33. Insect damage & fumonisins
Conventional
Inset photo: NPR
Bt Transgenic

35. IMPROVING QUALITY - The toxicity of
Fusarium mycotoxins
• Fusarium mycotoxins decrease grain quality and
can potentially be the source of toxicity to
animals
• Productivity is reduced
• Carcinogenic rats & mice (NTP)
• Epidemiology; esophageal cancer in humans
(Africa, China)
• Fatal brain damage in horses at 10 ppm, liver
damage in other animals
• FDA proposed fumonisin limits of 2-4 ppm
(humans), 5 ppm (horse), 20 ppm (swine), 100
ppm (poultry)
• Switzerland limit of 1 ppm

36. Benefits of Transgenic Insect-Resistant
Crops-1
• Season long protection
• Insects are always treated at the most sensitive
stage
• Protection is independent of the weather
• Protection of plant tissues which are difficult to
treat using insecticides
• Only crop-eating insects are exposed
• Material confined to plant tissue
• Active factor is biodegradable and non-toxic to man
and animals
• Avoids use of broad spectrum insecticides which kill
all insects

37. Benefits of Transgenic Insect-Resistant Crops-2
• Promotes sustainability of natural resources by reducing use
of energy and chemicals ( more target use of pesticides and
reduction in use of fossil fuels)
• Reduction in land/water contamination through reduced
pesticide usage
• Preserving natural habitats for biodiversity(more efficient
use of land)
• Reduced impact on non-target organisms, including
beneficials
• Enhancing safety of food crops by reducing mycotoxin
contamination
• Increased yield

38. Transgenic rice plants
harboring a modified CpTI
(Cowpea Trypsin Inhibitor)
grown in a trial field in the
Fujian province of China in
2002. (a) Before pest burst, no
apparent difference could be
observed between the
transgenic plants and the nontransgenic control. (b) After
pest burst, the transgenic plants
(green) showed a high level of
resistance to rice stem borer,
whereas the non-transgenic
control was seriously damaged
(yellow). Photographs courtesy
of Zhen Zhu (Institute of
Genetics and Developmental
Biology, Chinese Academy of
Sciences).

39. Genetically Modified Crops in Agriculture Today
The first generation of GM traits were designed to complement the use of
agrichemicals and provide better insect and weed control
These input traits were of obvious benefits to producers (agrochemical companies and
farmers) but not obvious to the consumer. These traits are now being introduced
together (stacked) in Corn ,Soybean,Cotton,Canola and now Rice and other crops-----
Input
traits
Cotton and Soybean:
Insect resistance
Corn
Glyphosate tolerance
•
Foliar insect control
•
Corn root worm
Glyphosate tolerance
How many more
traits in one crop?
Virus
control
Canola (Oil Seed Rape)
Sugar Beet
Papaya
Glyphosate tolerance

40. Stacked GM traits in the Field
Above ground
Corn borer
(CB)
Weed control
Glyphosate
tolerance
(GT)
Below ground
Rootworm
(RW)
Soon up to 12 stacked traits.
• Triple Stacked
traits protection
against:
Corn borer
Rootworm
Glyphosate
tolerance
Now being introduced into
a wider range of crops
including rice

41. Environmental benefits of gene
technology already include
• reduced need for pesticides, especially insecticides – so far,
after 10 years of use, no resistant insects have appeared in
the field; this means enormous benefits for non-pest insects
and for farmers in poor countries using back-pack spraying
equipment with inadequate protection
• a move to more benign, non-persistent weedkillers – but, the
incidence of weeds resistant to the weedkillers is increasing
• major opportunities exist for increasing no-till farming,
reducing both the damage to soil caused by ploughing as
well as wear and tear on machinery, and tractor fuel
MOVING FROM CHEMICAL SOLUTIONS TO BIOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS

42. Environmental & Sustainability Benefits of 1st Generation GM Crops
No-till allows:
Fuel savings
Labor savings
Herbicide savings
Smaller tractors
Narrow row planting
Increased yields
And helps to:
Reduce soil erosion
Keep carbon & nutrients in soil
Increase birdlife
Increase beneficial insects
Increase in organic matter (carbon) in the
topsoil
Improve water infiltratand moisture
retention– which increases resistance to
drought
Simple traits have brought huge benefits
including the more cost effective use of more
benign modern chemicals
MOVING FROM CHEMICAL SOLUTIONS TO
BIOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS

43. Traits benefit growers & value chain
Yields Increasing, Supply More Secure
Next Generation
Output traits
Advanced input traits
Corn Yield
Bushels per acre
2nd Generation
Insect resistance
Herbicide tolerance
1st Generation
Insect resistance
Herbicide tolerance
Biotechnology Momentum Building
% of
acres
• Agronomic
– 2nd Generation Insect Control
– 2nd Generation Herbicide Tolerance
– Disease resistance
• Output
– Ethanol productivity
– Improved feeds
• Advanced
% of acres
planted to traits
1 Agricultural
–
–
–
–
Drought (water optimization)
Yield
Nitrogen utilization
Nutraceuticals and Biofortified Crops
Resources and Environmental Indictors, 2006 Editions, ERS / USDA July 2006 – all traits approved for testing until mid 200 5
Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indictors, 2006 Editions, ERS / USDA July 2006
3 ProExporter Network® yield forecasts
2

44. Genetically modified crops in the USA…
GM maize
GM sugarbeet
86% of total production
area in 2010
95% of total production
area in 2010
(
GM canola
90% of total production
area in 2010
GM soybean
GM cotton
93% of total production
area in 2010
88% of total production
area in 2010
SOURCE: NCFAP; USDA

45. Biotech Crop Countries and Mega-countries 2011

46. Global Areas of Biotech Crops 1996-2011

47. Global Areas of Biotech Crops,
1996-2011 by Trait

48. Global Area of Biotech Crops,
1996-2011 by Crop

49. Global Adoption Rates (%)
Principal Biotech Crops 2011
49

50. The figures released today show that:• 90 percent of farmers worldwide
growing biotech crops are small resource-poor farmers in developing countries
– 15 million - up 8 percent or 1.3 million since 2010
• Growth rates of biotech crops in developing countries were twice as fast as
developed countries in 2011
• Out of the top ten countries growing biotech crops, eight were in the
developing world
• India planted 10.6 million hectares of biotech cotton during 2011 • Brazil
increased its area planted with biotech crops by 20 percent in 2011
• Africa planted 2.5 million hectares of biotech crops, and is making
advancements with field trials in the regulatory process for additional biotech
crop countries and crops
• In Europe, plantings of biotech maize in 2011 were a record 114,490
hectares. This represents an increase of more than 25 percent on 2010, but is
only a small fraction of the 51million hectares grown worldwide.

51. Viral Diseases Economic Importance
Disease/
Virus
Crops
Vector
Yield
reduction
TMV
Tomato,
tobacco
Aphids
30-60%
ACMD/ACMV
Cassava
Whitefly
11-69%
BYDV
Cereals
Aphids
25-60%
Tungro/RTBV,
RTSV
Zucchini
Yellows/ZYMV
Rice
Leafhopper
1-100%
Melon,
zucchini,
cucumber
Citrus fruit
Aphids
40-50%
Aphids
Potato,
tobacco
Plum
Aphids
10 000
trees
2-18%
Aphids
83%
Apple
Mechanical
30-60%
Banana
Aphid
5000 Ac
Tristeza/CTV
PVY
Plum pox/PPV
Apple
mosaics/AMV
Bunchy top/BBTV
BYDV on wheat
Source: Hadidi et al. Plant Virus Disease Control. 1998

52. Saving the Papaya Industry in Hawaii
Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV)
spoils flavor and reduces vigor
and fruit set. Phenotypic
symptoms are concentric
rings, spots and C-shaped
markings on the fruit.
‘UH Rainbow’ papaya
plants that are resistant to
PSRV were made by Dr.
Dennis Gonsalves and
colleagues, who used the
PRSV coat protein gene
in a ‘pathogen-derived
resistance’ strategy.
Papaya plants inoculated with PRSV. The
transgenic plant (left) is resistant while
From: http://www.apsnet.org/education/
the nontransgenic plant (right) is not.
feature/papaya/Top.htm

53. Papaya Ring Spot Virus PRSV

54. Papaya Ringspot Virus PRSV
• Herbacious tree (3 years in production)
• PRSV causes stunted growth and deformed fruit in
papaya and cucurbits
• Transmitted by 2 aphid species
• No effective treatment
• Multigenic conventional resistance unsatisfactory
• Was leading to the end of Papaya Production
• Coat Protein mediated resistance very effective
• Commercial transgenic cvs in Hawaii since 1998

55. PRSV and Rainbow papaya

56. Papaya ring spot virus in Hawaii
(aphid transmitted virus; no known resistance)
Nov 1996, 13 months after plantings
May 1997, 19 months after planting

57. Two fungal diseases threatening the world’s food supply
•Phytophthora infestans,
cause of potato late blight
which lad to the Irish
Famine, has re-emerged as
a threat.
•Puccinia graminis tritici, the
wheat stem rust fungus
(Ug99), has developed into a
highly aggressive form.Little
natural resistance
Photo credits: www.news.cornell.edu; www.fao.org

58. Building Productivity and Sustainability into
the Seed. What’s under Development?
• Counter existing and new pest and
disease outbreaks
• Increase water (‘more crop per drop’)
and nitrogen use efficiency
• Increase drought and flooding tolerance
• Increase nutrient (fertilisers) uptake
efficiency
• Improve nutritive value

59. Breeding for drought tolerance
Water use
efficiency is a
complex trait
that involves
hundreds of
genes
Photo credit: J.S. Quick, Bugwood.org

60. In 2011 seed companies
released water-optimized corn
Both of these varieties were developed
using modern molecular breeding methods
without the use of recombinant DNA

61. Water optimization : Combining GM and non-GM
technology
• Drought during pollination leads
to poor kernel set
• New technology would protect
during drought conditions
• Multiple complementary
approaches: native trait and
functional genomics, transgenics
• Multiple new trait constructs are
currently under evaluation in
field trials
• Promising gene candidates with
excellent drought tolerance in
field trials

62. Mankind depends on a few crop species for food
The application of marker assisted breeding and GM technology has primarily been used
to improve food production in the major world crops such as corn (maize) and soybean with
cotton,canola and rice following behind. They should now be adapted to improving orphan crops
which can address food security and nutrition and provide economic benefits to
poor farmers in the developing world-sorghum,cowpea,sweet potato,groundnut,cassava

63. The Seeds of the Future
Molecular Approaches have the
potential to Speed Up Plant
Breeding and domestication
in orphan crops
Agricultural biotechnology
enabling breeding systems to
be more efficient in
producing improved local
crop varieties.
…..adapted to local soil and
environmental conditions
and need
‘A group of crops that are vital
to the economy of developing countries
due to their suitability to the agro-ecology
and socio-economic conditions, but remain
largely unimproved’.
Africa Technology Development Forum 2009,
Vol 6: 3&4.
Orphan Food Crops:Tef Cereal for Ethiopia
Orphan Industrial/Medicinal Crops.
Artemesia
Orphan Fuel Crops.Jatropha

64. Plant breeding can support
African agriculture
African farmers
need access to
high yielding,
drought tolerant,
disease resistant
plants. Most food is
grown by smallscale farmers with
little mechanization.
Cassava, cowpea
and banana are
important crops and
the focus of
intensive breeding
programs by
marker assisted
breeding and GM.
Photos courtesy if IITA

65. The Crop
•Cultivated on more than 100 million ha per
annum in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
•Starchy storage roots is the major source of
dietary energy for over 200 million people in the
sub-region
•95% of all cassava in sub-Saharan Africa is grown
by resource-poor, subsistence farmers
•Increasingly more important not only as food but
as feedstock, substrate for biofuel and source of
industrial starch
•Many countries of SSA have special Presidential
Initiatives on boosting the economic returns on
the crop
•Rambo crop: Elevated levels of CO2 led to 100%
increase in root DM
CIAT

66. Cassava as a food crop is becoming
increasingly important worldwide

67. Any nutritional and yield improvements
in cassava must be in virus-resistant
farmer-preferred cultivars
The battle against
plant viruses
Tyler Hicks/The New York
Times

68. Severe Cassava Virus Infections
Affect Food Security
Healthy Cassava Plant
Cassava plant
after virus infection

69. Virus outbreaks severely affect
cassava production in Africa
The African Cassava Mosaic Virus (CMV)
originated in Uganda and is transmitted by
the whitefly, which reproduces every month
and can travel 10 km during the lifespan

70. Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) is a
serious threat to food security in Africa
Africa-wide losses due to Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) : 24% of
total production
Estimated losses for Africa in 2005 : 35 million tonnes
Legg et al., 2006
Legg and Thresh, 2004

71. Constraints being addressed
Biotic stresses
• Diseases: Viruses -- ACMD,
brown streak virus; CBB
• Pests: CGM; whitefly; stem
scale; African root and
tuber scale
Abiotic stresses, including
climate change
• Drought, heat
CIAT

72. Constraints being addressed
Quality
• Low contents of protein; Low
bioavailability of zinc, iron,
calcium and copper
• Toxic cyanogenic glucoside
• Starch content and quality
• DM content
• Postharvest Physiological
Deterioration
CIAT

73. “The Worst drought in 60 years has affected the Horn of Africa and other parts of
Sub Saharan Africa in recent years”

74. As a consequence of climate changes, droughts
are expected to increase
In some African
countries, yields from
rain-fed agriculture,
which is important for the
poorest farmers, could
be reduced by up to
50% by 2020.
-(FAO 2010)
Image credit: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2008 Africa Review Report on Drought and Desertification

75. Maize is a staple crop in Africa but very sensitive
to drought damage
Less than 10% of crop land in sub-Saharan
Africa is irrigated, making agriculture
production highly susceptible to drought
Irrigation as percentage of cultivated area
Photo credit: Anne Wangalachi/CIMMYT Map Source – FAO Aquastat 2005

76. Drought necessitates
“more crop per drop”
Increased water use efficiency
Solutions
– Harness natural genetic variation
• Identify genes in crops that improve water use efficiency
(and thereby drought tolerance) and maintain yield
• Improve tolerance through breeding
• “Forward Genetics”: from trait to gene
– Utilize genetic engineering
• Engineer genes and transfer them into the crop to
enhance water use efficiency while maintaining yield
• “Reverse Genetics”: from gene to trait
• Multiple complementary approaches: native trait and
functional genomics, transgenics
• Multiple new trait constructs are currently under evaluation
in field trials

77. Water Efficient Maize for Africa was developed
through a public-private partnership
Water-efficient maize
optimized for growth in subSaharan Africa has been
developed through a
combination of breeding and
GM methods
WEMA is being
developed as a publicprivate partnership that
includes international
and regional plant
breeding institutes,
philanthropic groups and
Monsanto
Photo credits: Anne Wangalachi/CIMMYT

78. Bold plans that succeeded - Drought tolerant
maize varieties (UK climate week award 2012)
Varieties
ZM309
ZM401
ZM423
ZM523
ZM623
ZM625
ZM721
WS103
Melkassa 4
KDV1
KDV4
KDV6
Countries
ZW, MW, SZ
ZW, TZ (Tan250)
AO, ZA, ZM, ZW
MW, ZA, ZW
CD, LS, MW, TZ, ZW
ZM (Kamano)
CD, TZ (Tan254), ZM
KE
ET
KE (Dryland)
KE (Dryland)
KE (Dryland)
Hybrid
PAN53
Longe H7
MH26
WH403
WH504
Pris601
CAP9001
TAN H600
KAM601
PGS61
WH502
ZMS402
ZMS737
Countries
ZW, MW, ZM, GH, ZA, SZ
UG
MW
KE
KE
ZW
SZ, ZA, MW
TZ
ZM
ZW, ZM
KE
ZM
ZM

79. Ugandan researchers successfully
transferred genes from green pepper
to bananas to enable wilt resistance
SOURCE: http://greenbio.checkbiotech.org/news/genes_sweet_pepper_arm_banana_against_deadly_wilt_disease

80. GM Example: Disease resistant
banana by introduction of a gene
from pepper
Resistant
Susceptible
Banana bacterial wilt is destroying
plants in eastern Africa. Transgenic
plants carrying a resistance gene from
pepper are resistant to the disease
Tripathi, L., Mwaka, H., Tripathi, J.N., and Tushemereirwe, W.K. (2010). Expression of sweet pepper Hrap gene in banana
enhances resistance to Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum. Molecular Plant Pathology 11: 721-731.

81. Eliminating Nutrient Deficiencies
“Modifying the nutritional composition of
plant foods is an urgent worldwide health
issue as basic nutritional needs for much
of the world’s population are still unmet.”
DellaPenna, 1999
1. Enhancing health promoting substances
2. Vitamin and micronutrients fortification
3. Lower bad fats/anti-nutrients/allergens

82. The Link Between Diet and Health
Developing World
(Poor)
Millions of deaths
due to under nutrition
Developed World
(Rich)
Millions of deaths
due to over nutrition
Many of our common food crops are not perfect with respect to the nutritional
requirements of humans or animals.
Protein, starch, and oil composition and content as well as vitamin and
micronutrient content can all be improved to make foods more nutritious.
Using GM to produce biofortified crop containing increased Vitamins and Fe. Zn etc

83. Micronutrient
Deficiency
Vitamin A deficiencies affect over 400 million people worldwide (ca. 7% world
population), causing blindness, night blindness and vulnerability to disease. An
estimated 250 million pre-school children are Vitamin A deficient. Each year two
million children die and 250,000 - 500,000 go blind from lack of Vitamin A.
Iron deficiencies affect up to 1.4 billion people worldwide (ca 22% world
population), particularly women, causing anaemia and complications during
childbirth, and affecting body growth, mental and motor development.

85. Biofortified plants are improving
nutrition for many
The non-profit organization HarvestPlus
focuses on the development of biofortified
crops for the developing world, including a
provitamin A enriched sweet potato that is
currently being grown by half a million
families. Other biofortification projects are
underway to increase levels of protein,
iron, zinc, antioxidants and other beneficial
components in food.
Sources: HarvestPlus; CIMMYT

86. Golden Rice - Public - Private partnerships
• Milled rice has no beta-carotene-provitamin A
• Globally, approximately 670,000 children die
every year because they are vitamin A–deficient.
• Another 350,000 children go blind
• More than 90 million children in Southeast Asia
suffer from vitamin A deficiency, more than in
any other region
• Golden Rice may provide one of the solutions
GM to improve provitamin A accumulation

87. Golden Rice
….represents a first example of a
biofortified staple crop made possible
by the application of recombinant
DNA technologies
Conventional breeding approaches
not possible in rice-GM the only answer

88. Breeding plants for β-carotene
(pro-vitamin A) enrichment
Vitamin A deficiency is a leading cause of blindness
Image sources: Petaholmes based on WHO data;

89. The challenges to food production
in Africa are immense
• Lack of infrastructure, especially irrigation and
access to transportation networks
• High incidence of diseases
• Lack of available fertilizers
• Lack of government and industry support for
research and translation into the field
• Lack of education and support for farmers
• Lack of economic supports and market stability
• Agricultural subsidies in other countries affect
market value

90. If Future Agriculture is to Support Everyone Sustainably on
the Planet a combination of Improved and Appropriate
Technologies will be Required
• Integrated pest management
• Reduction of chemical use and energy
• Agroecology
• Water conservation
• No-till practices
• Precision agriculture where appropriate
• Conserving genetic diversity
• Orphan Crops and Specialized (biofuel?) crops
• Genetic modification by marker assisted breeding
and GM technology where appropriate
• GM is not a Silver Bullet!!

91. How Do We Move Forward?
• Given present trends in population, food production, trade, and the
environment, the necessary increases in production and income
generation in rural areas cannot be achieved simply by expanding
cultivated land and using current technologies
• We must strive to attain global sustainability as a precondition for
human progress. The only realistic option is to invest in the science and
technology necessary to increase the efficiency of agriculture and
attempt to reverse the impact of man-made climate changeSUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION
• We must address population, affluence, and technology simultaneously
to move towards sustainability
• While agricultural production must be intensified to meet projected
demands for food, feed, fibre and biofuels, intensification strategies
must also change to avoid adverse environmental impacts and to reverse
the effects of past practices
We must use all safe, appropriate, socially responsible and
sustainable opportunities to increase food supplies. This can be
achieved by combining the best of conventional plant breeding with
the new biotechnologies including marker assisted breeding and
genetic modification of crop plants

92. A Way Forward
• We must encourage a more participatory, multi-stakeholder
approach towards setting priorities for food security and
nutrition crises that are already upon us.
• This must be led by political wisdom drawn by joint consensus
from the relevant ministries of health, agriculture, finance,
environment, and trade.
• Radical changes in the way science is done on an international
basis, the way in which biosafety regulations are implemented,
and a new spirit of co-operation is required if the benefits of
science are to reach those who need them the most.
• Public Good Plant Breeding and private-public partnerships.

93. Future Challenges:good science alone is not enough………..
.
•
There is an urgent need to link food and agriculture policy to wider global governance
agendas such as climate change mitigation, biodiversity and international development.
Without this link a decision in one area could compromise important objectives in another.
Policy makers need to understand that the food system is more than just about feeding
people: a failing food system impairs the life chances of children and can fuel social
tensions; civil unrest, conflict and economic and environmental migration; and cause the
degradation of the environment. If we get the food system wrong, the effects will spill over
far beyond food and the hungry. They will affect us all.
•
The solution is not just to produce more food, or change diets, or eliminate waste. The
potential threats are so great that they cannot be met by making changes piecemeal to
parts of the food system. What is needed is radical change across a wide front. Balancing
the competing demands of food production, climate change mitigation and the environment
will be a major challenge for policy makers.
•
Equally, meeting the future challenges cannot be accomplished just by change within the
food system. Food and food production needs to be integrated into decisions in much wider
agendas – e.g. water, land use and energy, and climate change mitigation.
•
Taken together all this amounts to a considerable challenge to policy makers – and the
vital need for food and food production to move up the political agenda.

94. GM Technology and Activism
• In Europe and in many African countries
agricultural biotechnology has been one of the
big success stories of activism by the NGOs
-Not because it stopped something unsafe but it
demonstrated the power of emotions over facts
in policy making and innovation
-it has frozen policy and regulatory attitudes
• Agric biotech is a tale of great achievement &
constant controversy. As long as this scenario
remains its potential will remain unused and the
victims will be farmers in Africa and other
developing economies who may be condemned
to poverty and food insecurity

95. FINAL THOUGHT……
We have already surpassed the sustainable carrying capacity of the
planet and unless we can stabilise or reduce our population those of
us fortunate enough to live in the ‘so called’ developed world will
have to take a significant cut in our standard of living.
• The call for Asia to emulate the Western economic model – which defines success
as consumption-driven economic growth – must be challenged. How we can live in
a constrained planet now that billions of Asians are being told to consume as the
West does?
The result would be catastrophic. Yet this is what Asians are told to aspire to as the
population and expectations increase. The 2 billion Asians now at the margins of
the consumption economy will radically transform global demand and supply, not
only for non-renewable commodities such as oil and coal (with their respective
carbon emissions), but also for renewables such as food (think meat consumption)
and put a strain on water and land for production.
Our current model of consumption-led economic growth thrives on under-pricing
ecological, environmental and social externalities.
We in the North must all shrink and share
.

96. Thank you for listening
I hope I have given you some food for thought
Swift’s dictum:
‘And he gave it for his opinion that whoever could
make two ears of corn or two blades of grass to
grow upon a spot of ground where only one
grew before, would deserve better of mankind,
and do more essential service to his country
than the whole race of politicians put together’
Johnathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels,1726

97. Future
Challenges
Photo credit: IRRI

99. Plant Gene Technology
SOME BENEFITS ?
RISKS ?
• More sustainable production
• Threat to biodiversity
• Lower carbon footprint
• Super weeds and pollen
transfer
• Resistance to biotic and abiotic
environmental stresses
• Healthier nutritional foods
• Higher quality food and feed
• Increased yields/hectare
• Increased food production to feed
increasing population
• Drought tolerance
• Plants as bio- refineries for
pharmaceuticals and biofuels
• Toxins or allergens
• Multi-national company control
–ownership and patents
• Increased chemical use
• Trade Barriers
• Globalisation
• Being Denied Access to the
Technology
• The cost of regulation

100. What risk assessments are
performed on GM crops?
Before release into the environment, GM crops are subject to riskassessment and risk-management measures to evaluate:
•Risks to human health (including toxicity and allergenicity)
•Risks of evolution of resistance in target pathogens or pests
•Risks to non-target organisms
•Risks from movement of transgenes

101. Will genes from GMOs
contaminate wild populations?
When Pandora opened the
forbidden box she released
evil into the world
Pollen can move DNA
between plants. To minimize
this possibility, GM crops
have to be grown prescribed
distances away from closely
related plants. Technological
methods to reduce this risk
John William Waterhouse: Pandora - 1896 are being developed.

102. Will anti-insecticidal genes harm
unintended targets?
The evidence shows that the planting of GE crops has largely
resulted in less adverse or equivalent effects on the farm
environment compared with the conventional non-GE systems
that GE crops replaced (National Academies 2010)
Image credit jons2

103. Will GMOs take away choice
and exploit small farmers?
> 45% of corn
yields are often
lost to insects
Partnerships including national
agricultural research institutions,
non-government and communitybased organizations, regional
research networks, and private
companies work together to
develop seeds that are suited to
local conditions and are
affordable for local farmers
Photo credit: CIMMYT.

104. Are GM crops safe to eat?
All GM plants are subject to
extensive testing and
regulatory oversight and no
detrimental health effects
have been identified
Bt corn is less prone
contamination by fungi which
produce toxins linked to
cancer and birth defects
YES
GM biofortification can
ensure that all children
get adequate levels of
protein, vitamins and
mineral nutrients.
GM is a safe and
beneficial tool in the
quest to sustainably feed
the growing population
Photo credit: Neil Palmer/ CIAT

105. Since 15 years, most food is produced
with starch, oils and syrup
from genetically modifed crops
Estimates are that >75 % of all processed food
in the US contains ingredients from
GM crops

106. Scientific official reports on transgenic crops
safety and benefits :
World Health Organization
“…in those countries
“…in those countries
where transgenic
where transgenic
crops have been
crops have been
grown, there have
grown, there have
been no verifiable
been no verifiable
reports of… health or
reports of… health or
environmental harm.”
environmental harm.”
- FAO
- FAO
Food & Agriculture Organization
(FAO) of the United Nations
National Academy of Sciences
(USA)
Royal Society (UK)
American Medical Association
(USA)
French Academy of Medicine
European Commission
U.S. Food & Drug Administration
Society of Toxicology
Institute of Food Technologists
Source: FAO, 2001.