This week, the World Food Prize is being awarded to three scientists who have pioneered the development of crops capable of resisting disease, insects and extreme climate, which has stirred up the debate over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) once again.
At ONE, our 3 million members around the world are united by a singular purpose: to alleviate human suffering by ending extreme poverty, especially in Africa. In the fight against hunger and food insecurity, we believe that it is for African governments and citizens to make their own decisions as to whether specific GMO and non-GMO innovations are appropriate for supporting their strategies to transform the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and the broader agricultural sector. At the same time, we urge them to make these decisions based on a thorough understanding of the growing body of agricultural, environmental, and food safety research on agricultural innovations.
While GMOs get a lot of headlines, it is worth remembering there are many non-GMO innovations with proven potential that don’t get nearly enough support, like improved seed varieties and modern farming techniques. Think of the incredible results we’re seeing from the biofortification of the orange sweet potato. In a project in Uganda, the ‘new’ sweet potato increased Vitamin A intake by two-thirds for older children and nearly doubled it for younger children and women. For children 6–35 months, who are especially vulnerable to Vitamin A deficiency, the new tuber was responsible for more than half of their total vitamin A intake.
We know that the GMO industry is dominated by a few corporations. Without effective regulation, that can be a problem. The needs of smallholder farmers are more important than those of corporations, and national policymakers should be the arbiters of corporate interests. So African governments need to make sure that they’re guided by the local needs and realities of smallholders.
A staggering 3.1 million children die every year from malnutrition and about one in seven people on the planet goes to bed hungry every night. We have to do better than that. In working to do so, we should not rule out any safe options that save lives. At ONE, we want to do what we can to support agricultural research so that African policy makers are guided by the best evidence of what works, what doesn’t, what’s safe and what is not.