Agricultural biotechnology: implications for food security

In 2015 under nourishment and famine will still be at higher levels than the targets set by the World Food Conference. Agricultural biotechnology is the major technological innovation to be made available to farmers after the end of the green revolution. The research activities of the biotech community, to provide solutions to the agricultural production problems, is intense and the results might be far reaching. The development of those technologies has been at times controversial but economic analysis of their impact have shown that producers and consumers, especially in developing countries, can benefit substantially. Although agricultural biotechnology is not a silver bullet to solve food insecurity problems, it can provide a significant help. Those technologies however need to be linked to the real needs of farmers and consumers.