Roundup Ready - Monsanto

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PHOTO: SG2000 GLOBAL CHALLENGE #2: FOOD SECURITY Written by Professor Ruth Oniang’o, Ph.D. Monsanto – Reaching the Poor Meeting food security needs in Africa continues to be a major challenge. As I write, about 4 million Kenyans (one-seventh of the country’s population) face starvation because of widespread drought complicated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other factors. Cutting extreme poverty and hunger in half is one of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Every year in Africa, the gap between those who have and those who have not widens. The poor do not need handouts; they need markets for their produce and wares. Support for agriculture and trade, which helps ensure adequate quantities of quality food for every citizen, should be a priority. Africa needs to remove barriers that constrain internal food trade and to apply the economic influence of science and technology institutions to produce foods in a farmer-friendly manner. Biotechnology is but one of the tools available to address food insecurity on the continent. However, this issue is dogged by misinformation and fear, which tends to camouflage the options that are available to address the whole issue of food insecurity. There are technologies that can conserve scarce water resources, ensure enhanced bioavailability of nutrients, increase spare time, reduce workloads for women, enhance the processing and shelf life of foods, increase yields many-fold, and even enhance soil fertility. The most sustainable solutions would combine crop production and livestock keeping, while opening up fair trade opportunities. Clearly, resource-poor farmers and those with small plots of land require technology that can help them realize multiple yields in the shortest time possible. Professor Ruth K. Oniang’o, Ph.D., is the founder of the Rural Outreach Program in Nairobi, which focuses on improving the livelihoods of the rural poor. She is also the editor-in-chief of the African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, a member of Kenya’s parliament, and a member of Monsanto’s Biotech Advisory Council. DRY-BEAN VARIETIES ON DISPLAY IN AN OPEN-AIR MARKET IN MALAWI.
Under similar drought conditions in a 2003 field trial, the corn with the drought tolerance gene produced better yields. CORN WITHOUT GENE CORN WITH GENE Monsanto Pledge Award Winner Overcoming Drought Impact Through Crop Conversion DROUGHT-TOLERANCE TRAITS IN RESEARCH PIPELINE A water rights dispute between neighboring states left downstream rice farmers in Tanjore, India, in a difficult situation. After centuries of raising paddy rice, these farmers in Tamil Nadu state were forced by drought conditions to try growing corn, which requires less water. The ultimate problem turned out to be the lack of a local market for the crop. New tools being tested by Monsanto today show promise to further increase yields, as well as boost nutritional value, and help plants to tolerate droughts tomorrow. The company has identified several genes that enhance a plant’s drought tolerance. This could lead to crops that are more productive and need less water. The breakthroughs in drought tolerance have come from Monsanto’s investment in genomics research which is using the knowledge of plant genomes to identify gene candidates for a new wave of biotech traits. Monsanto has used the Arabidopsis plant as a model in which to study the genes involved in a plant’s response to stress. The most successful genes identified in models are now in crop testing. Results suggest that these genes can improve crop productivity during a severe-water-stress test. “The results we’ve seen are extremely exciting,” said Stan Dotson, Monsanto’s director of yield traits research. Monsanto is collaborating on drought tolerance with other leading biotechnology companies, including Mendel Biotechnology, Paradigm Genetics, and Ceres. Monsanto, searching for a solution, turned to the poultry industry in Tamil Nadu, which feeds chickens 1.2 million tons of corn annually. 15 With the help of the area’s 30 largest poultry producers, an agreement was reached for them to buy corn from Tamil Nadu growers, thereby creating a local market. Monsanto educated the rice farmers in modern corn cultivation practices and coordinated the poultry producers’ purchases of the growers’ corn. The program’s goal is to increase the Tanjore corn-producing area from 3,000 hectares to more than 50,000 hectares. If this project is successful, its socio-economic impact will be great. It will significantly improve the lives of Tanjore farmers, and there will be more water to go around. { MONSANTO COMPANY 2004 PLEDGE REPORT: PAGES 12-13 }
Page 1 and 2: MONSANTO COMPANY 2004 PLEDGE REPORT
Page 3 and 4: needs sustainably. to play an impor
Page 5 and 6: GLOBAL CHALLENGES In this section,
Page 7 and 8: GLOBAL CHALLENGE #1: SUSTAINABILITY
Page 9 and 10: WATERBIRDS ON WORKING LANDS The Nat
Page 11 and 12: GLOBAL CHALLENGE #2: FOOD SECURITY
Page 13: HELPING SMALLHOLDERS WITH EDUCATION
Page 17 and 18: GLOBAL CHALLENGE #3: FOOD FOR THE H
Page 19 and 20: MONSANTO RESEARCHER STUDIES SOY PLA
Page 21 and 22: GLOBAL CHALLENGE #4: CLIMATE AND EN
Page 23 and 24: BIOENERGY — BRINGING FARMERS AND
Page 25 and 26: MONSANTO FUND { PAGE 44 } ahead PEO
Page 27 and 28: Case Study Dialogue Leads to Wheat
Page 29 and 30: others to develop a system that was
Page 31 and 32: IMPACTS OF BT COTTON IN CHINA HIGHE
Page 33 and 34: IMPACTS OF BT CORN EFFECTIVE BUILT-
Page 35 and 36: BRINGING OUR VALUES INTO BUSINESS P
Page 37 and 38: Global Adoption of Agricultural Bio
Page 39 and 40: EUROPE NORTH AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA
Page 41 and 42: Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) (ENVIR
Page 43 and 44: A number of Monsanto programs desig
Page 45 and 46: One way that Monsanto is reaching o
Page 47 and 48: HEALTHY CHILDREN, HEALTHY FUTURES O
Page 49 and 50: includes training in irrigation, re
Page 51 and 52: 13 Sachs, J. (2003, October). The m

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