B4FA 2012 Uganda: GM crops in the field now and in the future - Chris Leaver

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

What Limits Yield in the Field ?
TEMPERATURE

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

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.

“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

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

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.

Cavendish Banana with Black Sigatoka
Nigeria

Courtesy IPGRI

Courtesy IPGRI

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

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

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

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

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

COMPARISON: GM VS NON-GM
SUGAR BEET

COMPARISON: GM VS NON-GM
SOYBEAN

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

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

Aphids spread fungal,
Damage in Storage and
Aphids
bacterial and viral diseases In Transit Due to Insect
Pea aphids

Infestation

Cereal aphids

Potato aphids

Peach
Aphids act as vectors for
aphids
Viruses and Bacterial and
Fungal Spores

Also called a protein toxin because it kills insects

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)
a naturally occuring bacteria
that lives in the soil

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

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)

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

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

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

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

Conventional cotton
Unprotected

Bt-Protected
Bt Protected Cotton

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.

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

Insect damage & fumonisins

Conventional
Inset photo: NPR

Bt Transgenic

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

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

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

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:

Corn
Glyphosate tolerance
•
Foliar insect control
•
Corn root worm

Insect resistance




How many more
traits in one crop?

Virus
control

Canola (Oil Seed Rape)
Sugar Beet

Papaya




Stacked GM traits in the Field
Above ground

Corn borer
(CB)

• Triple Stacked
traits protection
against:

Weed control

Corn borer

Glyphosate
tolerance
(GT)

Rootworm

Below ground
Rootworm
(RW)

Soon up to 12 stacked traits.

Glyphosate
tolerance
Now being introduced into
a wider range of crops
including rice

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).

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

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

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

Genetically modified crops in the USA…
GM maize

GM sugarbeet

86% of total production
area in 2010

area in 2010

(

GM canola
area in 2010

GM soybean

GM cotton

area in 2010

area in 2010
SOURCE: NCFAP; USDA

Biotech Crop Countries and Mega-countries 2011

Global Areas of Biotech Crops 1996-2011

Global Areas of Biotech Crops,
1996-2011 by Trait

Global Area of Biotech Crops,
1996-2011 by Crop

Global Adoption Rates (%)
Principal Biotech Crops 2011

49

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.

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

Papaya ring spot virus in Hawaii
(aphid transmitted virus; no known resistance)

Nov 1996, 13 months after plantings

May 1997, 19 months after planting

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

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

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

Cassava as a food crop is becoming
increasingly important worldwide

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

Severe Cassava Virus Infections
Affect Food Security

Healthy Cassava Plant

Cassava plant
after virus infection

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

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

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

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

Breeding for drought tolerance

Water use
efficiency is a
complex trait
that involves
hundreds of
genes

Photo credit: J.S. Quick, Bugwood.org

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

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

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

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

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

TO MUCH WATER-FLOODING………
Submergence is a major constraint to rice production in S and
SE Asia. New Sub1 lines after 17 days submergence in the field
at IRRI
IR64-Sub1
Samba-Sub1
Samba

IR49830 (Sub1)
Samba

IR64

IR42

IR42
IR64

IR49830 (Sub1)
IR49830 (Sub1)

IR64-Sub1

IR64

Samba

Samba-Sub1

IR64-Sub1
IR42

IR49830 (Sub1)

IR42
IR64-Sub1

Samba

Samba-Sub1
IR64

IR49830 (Sub1)

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

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

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;

The Creation of Golden Rice

The Daffodil psy gene encoding phytoene desaturase and Erwinia crtl gene
encoding carotene desaturase were used to engineer enhanced levels of
Beta-carotene (pro-vitamin A) to help combat Vitamin A deficiency

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

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

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.
Photos courtesy if IITA

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

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.

In the next 50 years, we will
have to produce as much
food as we have yet
produced in human history
Photo credit: © UNICEF/NYHQ1998-0891/Giacomo Pirozzi

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

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

Key Messages
• Global food and nutrition security is under immense
pressure
• Technology has vast potential to meet not only global
demands for food and nutrition but also address
emerging issues of sustainable energy and environment
• Cost of bringing new technologies to the market
continues to escalate ca.$135 million and 12-15 years
• Genetics is expanding the paradigm of crop nutrition and
pest protection to include stress alleviation, land and
natural resource use efficiency, consistency and crop
quality
• A science-based, transparent, globally harmonized
regulatory and trade policies are central for realizing the
potential of the sector

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

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.

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.

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 must all shrink and share

“Genetic modification is analogous to nuclear power: nobody
loves it, but climate change has made its adoption imperative. As
Africa’s climate deteriorates, it will need to accelerate crop
adaptation. As population grows it will need to raise yields.
Modern Plant Breeding and Genetic modification offers both
faster crop adaptation and a biological, rather than chemical,
approach to yield increases.”
Dr. Paul Collier
Professor, Economics, Oxford University
Director, Center for the Study of African Economies.
Author of “The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It.”

SOURCE: “Can Biotech Food Cure World Hunger?”, New York Times, 10/26/09
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/can-biotech-food-cure-worldhunger/?partner=rss&emc=rss#paul

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

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

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

Future
Challenges

Photo credit: IRRI

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

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.

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

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.

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

Scientific official reports on transgenic crops
safety and benefits :
“…in those countries
where transgenic
crops have been
grown, there have
been no verifiable
reports of… health or
environmental harm.”
- FAO

 World Health Organization
 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.

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

FAO-EPSO Consultation

Save and grow in practice – an example


Developments of maize-legume systems in African savannah

•

Integration of soybean, cowpea and agroforestry trees with maize
leads to a reduction of recommended fertilizer rates by half, while
increasing maize yields by 140-300%

•

Soil health is vastly improved, and leaching reduced

•

These systems have been adopted by a large number of farmers in
sub-Saharan Africa in recent years

25 June 2012, FAO, Rome

slide 2/x

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

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

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

Sustainable food security is facing a major bottleneck
• Since the beginning of agriculture, humans have cultivated 7,000 plant species
• Today only 150 plant species (2%) are agriculturally relevant for food and clothing
• Only 10 plant species are cultivated today to provide 95% of food and feed

Cultivated today

95% of food and feed

Total cultivated since
the beginning of agriculture

Total kultiviert

Heute kultiviert

95% der Ernährung

Monocultures favor the spread of
new pathogens
“The new strains of stem rust
UG99,…, are much more
dangerous than those that, 50
years ago, destroyed as much
as 20 percent of the American
wheat crop.”

Yes, we have no bananas

Last Updated Fri, 17 Jan 2003 11:32:19
BRUSSELS - Disease and pests are eating into the
world's supply of bananas, according to a Belgian scientist.
Dr. Emile Frison says edible bananas may disappear within a decade
if action isn't taken immediately to develop new, more disease-resistant varieties.

More is needed to improve and preserve the
seeds of our future crops

Certain NGOs deliberately declare gene technology
a danger to create public mistrust—and they don’t
stop from even attacking private property

ETH Cassava Research for
food security and nutritional improvement

Bio
fortification

Virus
Resistance

Promoters

PPD

Supported by: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Eiselen Foundation
ETH North-South Center
National Science Foundation BREAD Program

Root
& Starch

Drought
Tolerance

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

Field tests of ACMV-resistant cassava in Puerto Rico
(Biocassava Plus project)

ETH technology transfer to African partners at
MARI (Tanzania), BECA (Kenya) and
Witwatersrand University (South Africa)
Collaboration with Joseph Ndunguru’s Laboratory
Transformation of Friable Embryogenic Callus (FEC) produced at ETH
Production of FEC from model cultivar and selected Tanzanian cultivars at
MARI
Transformation platform optimization

wheat is susceptible to
Ug99 and its variants

• Infrastructure
• Management & husbandry problems
• Degradation of natural resource base
• Weak markets & socio-economic constraints
• Biological & environmental constraints
-low soil fertility/lack of fertilisers
-drought, pest & disease stress
- global climate change.

The Biotech Pipeline

Drought tolerance
Nitrogen-nutrient use
efficiency.Salinity

Pest coverage

Yield Protection

Yield Potential

Yield Optimization

B4FA 2012 Uganda: GM crops in the field now and in the future - Chris Leaver

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