{"id":4791,"date":"2019-08-21T11:11:39","date_gmt":"2019-08-21T08:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=4791"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:29","slug":"biotech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2019\/08\/21\/biotech\/","title":{"rendered":"Biotechnology: A Promising Tool For Food Security"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the world population\nexpected to grow to 8.1billion come 2030 at an annual increase of 75 million\npeople, the conventional food systems are undoubtedly threatened amidst the\neffects of climate change.   Approximately 42%<\/a>\nof the crop productivity has been compromised by diseases, weeds, a reduction\nin the amount of arable land, and crop varieties are nearing their biological\nand physical limits of productivity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under these climate and socio-economic changes investing in sustainable food supply and nutritionally balanced and diverse diets can help adapt food systems to the changing world. Plant biotechnology presents a promising tool, with remedies that can contribute to sustainable gains in agricultural productivity, poverty reduction and food security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plant biotechnology a promising tool in food security Image credit: World Agriculture
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Post-harvest loss control<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food security is negatively affected by post-harvest losses, with the losses amounting to 30 % of that harvest yields. The presence of toxicogenic and spoilage micro-organisms induces microbial activities that lead to spoilage. But produce shelf life can now be boosted thanks to genetic engineering. Plant components that cause early deterioration, can be removed by incorporating an antisense gene to significantly reduce the enzymes that induce ripening. A large amount of yield goes to waste at harvest especially in slaughter harvesting, where robotic harvests both immature and mature, ripe and unripe yields.A<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Through biotech uniform characteristics in growth and ripening can be achieved to avoid harvest losses. motherearthliving.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cloning of plants can help realize uniform characteristics, same growth rate and ripening time. This helps ensure an even harvest, thus reducing wastage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also\nby Author: Green Economy: A Cornerstone to Sustainable Development<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increased yields<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of every farmer is to increase on yield at any given season. This\nhas however been threatened by emerging pest and diseases. But all is not lost\nscientist can now develop pest and disease-resistant crops varieties by\nincorporating proteins that provide plants with the ability to protect\nthemselves from fungal, viral, or bacterial diseases. Bt rice and Bt corn have\nrevolutionized pest control and most farmers have benefited, with increased\nproductivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desirable qualities can\nalso be incorporated into crops such includes, increasing flowering capacity,\nphotosynthesis and stress resistance-to acidity and salinity. This position\nplants for better performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Banana tissue culture plants. image courtesy | indiamart.com <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Through tissue culture,\ndisease-free planting materials can be produced. Seed materials can be accessed\nthroughout the year, with no season cycle restriction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competitive\nadvantage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competitive effect of\nweeds can also be minimized by developing herbicides resistant crop varieties.\nThis would imply reduce the need for agrochemicals thus minimal residues in the\nfinal products. Biotech has also facilitated mass production of biological\nweapons with insecticidal effects- Such biological weapons like fungi can\ncontrol other fungi, attack weeds, pests, and harmful insects. They are more environmentally\nfriendly and less expensive nature presents an additional advantage compared to\nagrochemicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Value\naddition to Nutritionally balanced diets<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The food production will\nnot only demand to feed more people but also emphasize adding value to the products.\nMolecular biology and gene technology offer a great opportunity for value\naddition in the cereal sector and other food products for increased nutritional\ncontent. Thanks to biotech the protein content of cassava and rice can be\nincreased to ensure a well-balanced diet to millions of people that rely on\nthem as staple foods. Likewise, undesirable food components, such as major\nallergens can now be successfully eliminated by modifying their amino acids\nsequences.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revegetation\nof denuded regions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With increasing\ndesertification associated with deforestation, overgrazing, and fires, biotech\ncrops can be successfully used for ecological restoration. Fast-growing crops\ncan help restore plant cover, that can be utilized as food or feed. Also, the development\nof drought-resistant varieties has enabled crop production in previously\nnon-arable land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientific evidence\npresent biotechnology as a crucial tool among a range of technologies and can\nincrease food production and be of benefit to the environment. With the\npopulation pressure and factor of reducing arable land, biotech can help\nmitigate agricultural challenges and adapt farming systems in the adverse\nclimate and weather changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women make up a larger\npercentage of farmers in developing countries, by adopting herbicides tolerant\ncrops and crops with less labor to harvest, they stand less burdened in farm\nwork, and can engage in other economic activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the great potential, the technology faces acceptability barriers that hinder its application in agriculture, either due to fear of international competition or loss of vibrant landraces. Nevertheless, its real benefits are indisputable and are a great means of food security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the world population expected to grow to 8.1billion come 2030 at an annual increase of 75 million people, the conventional food systems are undoubtedly threatened amidst the effects of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[89,111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-responsibility","category-social-responsibility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}