2 billion more mouths to feed in 2050

By that date, the world population is predicted to increase from 7 billion to 9 billion people, a nearly 30 percent increase. To feed all those hungry people, agricultural scientists are look-ing to biotechnology to find ways to boost crop yields and improve the nutritional value of the food farmers in Nebraska and elsewhere raise.

But two University of Nebraska-Lincoln professors stress that biotech should be considered only one weapon in the battle that includes both scientific and cultural barriers.

“Everything should be on the table,” said Mary S. Willis, associate professor of anthropology at UNL, who studies cross cultural health.

The cultural context must be carefully considered, Willis said, and the community has to participate.

“It shouldn’t even be that (the U.S.) would decide who should have a particular food item or supplementation or fortification — it has to be done in collaboration with the community,” Willis said. “It should include a discussion about ‘Here is the problem. Here are the options we could look at. What things would you be comfortable with? And what things do you think would be the least disruptive to your cultural tradition?’ That’s not typically the way things are done.”

One question facing researchers is whether it is better to introduce foods genetically modified to include a much-needed nutrient, or to help these countries grow foods that may be foreign to their traditions but naturally contain the nutrient.

Millions of people in Asia and Southeast Africa suffer from vitamin A deficiency, for example. According to the World Health Organization, it causes blindness in about 250,000 to 500,000 pre-school age children every year, about half of whom die within 12 months.

So scientists developed golden rice, which is genetically modified to contain vitamin-producing beta-carotene. It was developed and field tested about a decade ago and is making its way through the regulatory process despite stiff opposition from anti-GM activists.

Experts say golden rice ideally suits cultures where rice is a staple. Introducing another product rich with vitamin A, such as carrots, might achieve the same nutritional goal but could require dramatic dietary change. Such a change, too, could upend local industries and farming styles.

Controversy over genetically modified foods is often more about culture than science, Willis said. It’s often not about whether or not there’s an actual benefit. It’s about the acceptance from the very people who need the help.

None of us are eating only indigenous foods or foods from the place where our ancestors came from, she said.

Willis cited Ethiopia, where she often works, as an example. Vitamin A deficiency and anemia are widespread. The country’s traditional grain, teff, is filled with iron and contains all of the amino acids, which helps to reduce the incidence of anemia. Unfortunately, some people are unable to buy teff or grow it in their area, she said.

Willis said the U.S. Agency for International Development has altered all other parts of the Ethiopian diet in many ways.

“Our agency has introduced corn and wheat and all of these other crops,” Willis said. “And we’ve really urged people to grow, in some instances, cash crops because then you have more money in the household. The problem is when people have their livelihood altered, it takes a while to get all those components back in place that would bring optimal nutrition.”

It takes time because culture is bundled, Willis said.

But GM technology is not the only answer to addressing dietary deficiencies, Willis said.

“It’s not going to be introducing a single food modified in some way to bring better nutrition,” she said. “And sometimes, not always, sometimes when you modify, you alter the other properties in the food and forever change those properties it gave. It’s a messy business.”

Like Willis, Edgar B. Cahoon, biochemistry professor and director of the UNL Center for Plant Science Innovation, said that GM technology is just one of many tools available to feed the world.

“GMO (technology) gives you access to a broader range of genes that can be used to improve crops,” Cahoon said. “(Traditional) breeding is just a more narrow look at genetic diversity that we have. So it’s expanding the genetic diversity that you can use to make a better crop.”

Cahoon has been working to modify cassava to be the nutritional equivalent of golden rice. The work began in July 2005 with a $7.5 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative.

Cassava is a major source of calories for people in Sub-Saharan Africa and different countries like Nigeria and Kenya, but the root mainly contains starch and doesn’t contain many micronutrients, Cahoon said. Field trials have been done for golden cassava, which is biofortified to contain beta carotene, which the human body converts into vitamin A.

“We have the engineered cassava,” Cahoon said. “The levels are high enough for benefit to humans. It’s just a matter now of getting the traits into varieties of cassava that are actually grown in Africa.”

Cahoon said one of the biggest challenges facing GMOs is public acceptance.

“The idea is to put the trait into the staple crops in these countries — not necessarily introduce new crops,” Cahoon said. “I think you get more consumer acceptance that way.”

Working in partnership with other countries to introduce GM technology is important, Cahoon said, and it’s an approach pushed by the Gates Foundation.

In South Africa, however, GM technology is widely accepted, Cahoon said, and that fact is encouraging other African countries to use the technology, too. Cahoon has conducted field trials of golden cassava in Nigeria and Kenya in collaboration with the local scientists and field workers. Golden cassava was the first confined field trial of any genetically modified plant in Nigeria.

“They were very excited to have this new technology to work on that hopefully has an impact in their countries,” Cahoon said.

Another major challenge facing GMOs is the cost of the regulatory process.

A GMO crop “has to go through a regulatory process that’s similar to taking a drug through different stages of trials and getting approval from the government,” Cahoon said. If the process is too rigorous, he said, it could discourage innovation.

“We shouldn’t be thinking about GMOs as saving the world, just that they can be one tool among many that can improve crop productivity.”