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Details
Title
Biotechnology and the Quest for Food Security: Panacea, Panoply or Palliative?
Author(s)
Ryan, James G.
Issue Date
Aug 08 2002
Publication Type
Conference Paper/ Presentation
DOI and Other Identifiers
10.22004/ag.econ.123929
Record Identifier
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/123929
PURL Identifier
http://purl.umn.edu/123929
Language
English
Total Pages
8
Note
Biotechnology can help confer traits in crops and livestock that enhance yields and quality and
reduce costs, often with attendant benefits to the environment. In economic terms biotechnology
offers the potential of substantially reducing the research time and costs of genetically enhancing
crops and livestock. Biotechnology is viewed as a way of substantially lifting yield potentials in
much the same way as conventional breeding did with the dwarfing genes leading to the Green
Revolution in rice and wheat in the 1960s. To realise this potential for developing countries will
require more explicit attention to their priorities and an array of complementary investments and
policies. These include an increased focus on ‘orphan crops’ and traits of particular relevance to
the poor and food insecure, and on more marginal environments. In addition these will require
enabling policies and enhanced public agricultural R&D investments that will facilitate publicprivate
partnerships in developing countries. Substantial increases in other multi-sectoral
investments are also required if child malnutrition, the most insidious form of food and nutrition
insecurity is to be meaningfully reduced. Increased food production alone, even aided and abetted
by biotechnology, will not suffice. Biotechnology alone is not a panacea for achieving food security,
or even a panoply. As argued in this paper, at best it is a palliative requiring many complements.