Genetic Engineering: The Future of Food Security

Genetically Modified (GM) crops have been on an extensive use worldwide to produce the variety of plants, pests and disease resistant crops and more nutritious crops. In the whole world, more than 10% of croplands are planted with GM crops. The GM crops are not just used for the consumption purpose, but also widely used for the other purposes like bioremediation, as biofuels and to name a few.

The Genetically modified crops are nothing but the outcome of the direct alteration of the genome, which is done by the application of Genetic Engineering (GE). In the last 50 years, we developed better with the new findings in the field of Genetic Engineering especially due to a greater understanding of the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) which is in the form of double-helix structure. By using the 'recombinant DNA technology', the genetic makeup of the living organism can be changed to produce a new breed. The changes made in the plants through GE is also termed as Plant Breeding.

In India, there is an exponential growth of the population for which the government has to safeguard the availability of the sufficient amount of food. Otherwise, it may cause health issues for people, or it may happen that the serious problems like infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate may show a steep upward inclination. On the other side, we are bound by the World Trade Organisation's conventions to support no physical barriers in the trade mechanism. Every effort by the government to ensure a tangible outcome had proved to be a standstill for any WTO's Agreement on Agriculture. It has caused the problem to our farmers who are not able to compete with the well mechanised and well-subsidised farmers of the developed countries. Also, it is not possible for our government to mechanise the whole farming system in a single phase. It involves a lot of money and time.

The sole solution to this problem is the Genetic Engineering. With the help of GE, we can produce the crop in less time than the harvest usually takes. We can also increase the nutritional value in a particular crop so as to reduce the cases of malnutrition and there are much more benefits to it. In India, the first Genetically modified crop BT Brinjal was launched in 2006 with the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) giving green signal to the seed company Mahyco. After that, many variants of crops like potato, tomato, mustard have been experimented with and bred to form a new variety of crops. Many other crops are in the process of getting bred for farming to ensure food security in the country. Various famous crop varieties produced worldwide are- Golden Rice, GM-Mustard, BT-Cotton, GM-Maize, GM-Soybean and the list goes on.

Several Multinational companies are involved in researching and manufacturing of GM seeds; the coming generation has an excellent opportunity to consider Genetic Engineering as a career option. The government in India is now taking a keen interest in reviving the farming sector by introducing technology in the Agriculture sector. The government is also encouraging new technology based startups by providing credit and tax benefits. The future of agriculture and food security now lies in the court of Genetic Engineering.

Urmila is Post graduate in management. She writes about Indian Colleges, universities, exams and other prevalent issues.