GM Crop Game
... These scientific advances have culminated in the genetic engineering or modification of crops which gives birth to the term; Genetically Modified (hereafter known as GM) Crops. ... The Green Revolution; which is about alleviating hunger through better crop yields, originated in the 1940s and have been in Asia since the 1960s. ... GM Crops – Cure to Asia’s Ailments Crop biotechnology has often been touted by researchers and scientists to poses the potential to make significant contribution in Asia; to the regional priorities of poverty alleviation, rural development, strengthened trade and economic competitiveness, agricultural sustainability and improved food security while delivering direct benefits such as better food and fibre quality to the end consumers. ... With obvious reference to GM Crops, FAO’s declaration has furthered propelled the notion of GM Crops being the fix-it for Asia’s ailing agricultural scene. So what does GM Crops promise? GM Crops; in a nutshell, promise an increase in crop productivity through better yield per hectare land, improvement in nutritional quality of crops through genetic engineering and increase in crop tolerance to natural calamities, pests and disease through transgenic crops variations. Players in the GM Crops Game As with all games, the GM crops game has its fair share of players who are the major stakeholders with a vested interest in the agricultural output of Asia. ... So, what do these players stand to gain from this GM crops game? As for the farmers in Asia, GM crops bring about increased choice and flexibility in crops and cropping systems, increased profitability through improved yields and produce quality as well as increased tolerance to stress factors. ... As for the consumers in Asia, GM crops technology brings about better quality food and fibre products, lower costs of production thereby reducing and controlling the net costs of food, better food safety standards, improved nutritional value of food stuffs, lower levels of anti-nutritional and allergenic substance and increased food security for the poor in the rural as well as the urban areas in Asia. GM crops can facilitate the respective governments in Asia to meet social and welfare objectives and, more particularly, contributing to poverty reduction objectives. GM crops can also help strengthen rural economies, international trade competitiveness, national agriculture research and development services as well as positively contribute to environmental sustainability. GM crops technology spells benefit for the environment in Asia as increased productivity of existing farmed land reduces pressure to farm marginal land with fragile ecosystems, integrated pest management in turn improves agricultural sustainability and reduced agricultural inputs lowers the risk of disturbing the natural ecological balance which of course benefits the environment and the ecosystem in the long run . With the detailed analysis on what the various players stand to gain from GM crops, it is obvious that the technology confers unending benefits to Asia. Quite rightly, countries like China, India, Indonesia and Thailand have already taken baby-steps to inculcate GM crops and its related technologies into their agricultural fields and this plunge into the GM Crops Game and the interim results greatly facilitates this article’s verdict on the GM Crops Game. ... Although the GM seed costs four times as much as normal cotton, the yield improvements meant that the crop was worth five times as much . ... Looking back at the fiasco, the Bt cotton, which was the first ever GM crop to be cultivated in India, unveiled that the seeds were sold as pest resistant seeds and the farmers were misled with fanciful outcome of the Bt cotton yield before the tests conducted could justify the outcome promised by Monsanto. ... The farmers of Khargoan district where Bt cotton was a 100% failure were up in arms against Monsanto-Mahyco that supplied these GM seeds and demanded compensation form the company for failure of their crop. ... Verdict – The Current Losers in GM Crop Game The short tour of the benefits and the short flings some Asian agricultural sectors have had with GM Crop technology sets the stage to read the verdict of the GM Crop Game in Asia so far and again the players namely the Asian farmers, customers, governments and the environment are the point of analysis for the verdict. ... Farmers have also been hit by the hard fact of seeds and GM crops not living up to expectation with poor yield and susceptibility of the transgenic crops.