Africa flirts with GM technology in rush for climate-ready crops

18 Feb 2011 16:02

Source: alertnet // Megan Rowling

A woman weeds her maize plantation in Akia village outside Lira town in the northern region of Uganda, November 2009. REUTERS/Hudson Apunyo

LONDON (AlertNet) - The race is on to develop new crop varieties that will help farmers in poorer countries keep up yields under pressure from the impacts of climate change.
A study by researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) warned in December that global warming will cause yields of rice and wheat to fall in all regions of the world by 2050, compared to a future without climate change.
Scientists who specialise in plant breeding say efforts must be stepped up dramatically on all fronts, from searching in far-flung corners of the world for wild varieties that are resilient to climatic extremes, to identifying useful genetic traits and manipulating them to produce hardier and higher-yielding seeds.
"With the onset of accelerated climate change, it is going to be important that farmers can adapt, so researchers need to accelerate progress in making crops more resilient to droughts and floods," says Lawrence Kent, an agricultural development officer at the U.S.-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Plant breeders need to do more and faster, and they need more resources to do it."
Developing “climate-ready crops”, as they are often called, will be essential to avoid production declines in the face of more extreme weather conditions, and to feed a growing global population in the coming decades.
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