Sidsore Christian ZedaProfessor John MiltonWriting/GrammarNovember 13, 2017CAN USE OF GMO SOLVE THE FAMINE AROUND THE WORLD?The world population has increased significantly in the last decade. According to the UN, there are now more than 7,500,000,000 people on the planet Earth. It took until the 1800s for the world population to reach the billion. Now we add one billion every 12-15 years. Facing this situation, the world is confronted with some famines issues in some parts of the globe. How to feed such as many people when we know that land has been reduced because people need a place to stay? To remedy to this problem scientists had to find a way to feed the population using all kind of ways. So, scientists found a way called GMO which was going to increase the productivity efficiently.
Some people think that it is a good way to resolve the famine problems in the world and the others are skeptic about it. First GMO is tested for safety and allergen potential before they got to the market. For example, in United State GM food are tested before being launched for sale in the market. The testing process can be long (7-10 years) and must include evaluations of potential risks to humans and livestock as well as potential risks to wildlife and environment.
Secondly, GMO crops feed more people. Since they are cheaper to grow, increase yields and extend the time food remain edible, it seems reasonable that GM plants should provide more food to the hungry world. That will help to produce more crops to help populations that are desperate and are suffering from food issues. In some areas as Africa where in some zone it hardly rains, the use of GM can be a huge help to reduce famine.
Some parts of the globe don’t benefit from the rain so it’s hard to grow an agricultural system. Thirdly, genetic engineering is a powerful tool for improving food production. There is no faster way to produce animals and plants with specific beneficial traits and as we learn more about the genetics, many more modifications will become possible. Frankly, at this point, there is no question whether to apply genetic engineering toward improving crops for food consumption. Genetic modification is already part of crops improvement toolbox. However, some people still think the GMO cannot solve the food problems in the world.
For them, the widespread adoption of genetic engineering of agriculture will lead to more hungry people.First of all, using genetic engineering to create substitutes for tropical cash crop will destroy the livelihood of the rural poor in many Third World countries aggravating poverty and hunger. several applications of biotechnology are aimed at growing tropical cash crops in the north or at producing in laboratories the substances currently derived from such crops. Secondly, it will increase farm debt. Many farmers who are already pressed by competition from heavily subdivided food import from the US and by the removal of subsidies on water and energy under structural adjustments programmers will slide into debts. The results are likely to be yet another wave of farms bankruptcies leading to the landlessness for poorer farmers and an increasing concentration of land as the wealthier farmers and speculators buy up bankrupted farms. Thirdly it will lower yields as the genetically engineered crops now being cultivated do not significantly increased yields. In some case, yields are lower than those for conventional varieties of the same crop.
Several analysts conclude that any further that increases in crop yields in modern food crops will almost certainly come from building on traditional breeding methods, not from transgenic. GMO has been so far, a huge help in helping to fight against famine in the world. The world population has grown sharply and to solve the famine in the world the use of technology through GMO is needed. GMO contribute to reduce famine and give more options to take care of people in the world. With the world population expected to double by 2050, food security will continue to be an increasingly complicated and important issue. More food will be needed to feed more people and, to preserve vital biodiversity sites, we will need to produce this additional food using land already devoted to agriculture.
