Sometimes simple solutions looking at the issue of timing and planting cycles can provide effective solutions.
For example, in India, mustard seeds were planted in September and harvested in late December/January.
But often, up to 30% of the harvest was often lost to frost.
In response, breeders worked on a seed with a shorter duration period, which enabled
Biotech crops, such as more nitrogen efficient crops, can help preserve water resources by increasing nutrient efficiency and limiting run-offs.
Most plants use less than half of the nitrogen applied to them through fertilizers. Increasing the nitrogen efficiency in a plant allows farmers to use less fertilizer, which in turns reduces the risk of leaching.
Furthermore, unused
GM crops and crop protection products can help increase yields by limiting losses.
Since 1996, the average yield impact across the total global area planted with insect resistant traits over the 11 year period has been +5.7 percent for corn traits (or an added 47 million tonnes of corn) and +11.1 percent for cotton traits (or
Pioneer Hi-Bred, a biotechnology company, has partnered with Africa Harvest to form the Africa Biofortified Sorghum (ABS) Project, an initiative that works to improve the nutritional value of sorghum to help address widespread malnutrition.
Pioneer donated initial technologies valued at $4.8 million to help with the project and additional funding has been provided by a grant
The IITA recently announced that cowpea farmers in sub-Saharan Africa have seen their profits increase by 55% due to new advances in cowpea varietals. This new research has helped improve the returns per hectare which farmers enjoyed when paired with proper crop management.
The cowpea is an important source of protein for farmers in sub-Saharan Africa,
Newsweek recently ran an story about how Africans are increasingly weighing the benefits of plant biotechnology for coping with some of their most important development challenges, including climate change adaptation, reversing rising levels of hunger, and better accessing markets.
The crops which result from this R&D are being called the second generation of biotechnology advancements:
The result
