During the last decades, the number of hungry people at the global level declined both in relative and absolute terms. In part, this was made possible through remarkable technological progress in agriculture, involving the introduction of new high-yielding varieties of major food grains, combined with a more intense use of complementary inputs, such as agrochemicals and irrigation, as well as improved farm management practices. Known as the green revolution, these technological advancements doubled the grain yields in large parts of Asia and Latin America, entailing improved food availability for poor consumers at affordable prices.

The role of crop biotechnology for food security and poverty reduction should not be overrated. Many problems in low- and middle-income countries are not amenable to technological solutions. Yet biotechnology could contribute to sustainable development in two important respects. First, integrated into existing crop improvement programs biotechnology could increase agricultural productivity beyond what is possible with conventional breeding techniques alone. This would enhance the global food availability at affordable prices, while promoting environmentally sound production patterns. Second, appropriate biotechnologies could raise the revenues in agricultural production, which is still the dominant source of income and employment for the rural poor in large parts of the world.

The case studies from Kenya and Mexico underscore that biotechnology can bring about sizeable welfare gains for agricultural producers and consumers in developing countries. Although the development of modern biotechnologies can be quite demanding at the laboratory stage, this does not hold for the resulting end-technologies, viz. the genetically engineered crop varieties that farmers deploy. Transgenic crops, especially those with resistance to biotic and abiotic stress factors, fit well into small-scale farming systems and can easily be integrated without adjusting traditional cropping practices. The comparatively low setup cost for adopting genetically engineered technologies at the farm level also makes this technology useful for semi-subsistence agriculture.

It must not be overlooked, however, that to date the industrialized countries dominate the research and application of biotechnology. Realizing the mentioned technology potentials for the developing world in a broader context remains a challenging task for policies at national and international levels. Apart from a limited number of innovative biotechnology transfer projects, the question of who will provide suitable technology products to the poor remains critical. Widespread market failures narrow the interests of private commercial technology suppliers. Public institutes, on the other hand, find it increasingly difficult to conduct independent research on account of the concentration of relevant patents in the private sector.

Profound and pro-poor institutional adjustments in research and regulatory frameworks are essential to ensure that biotechnology does not bypass those who need it the most.

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