Offering New Hope to Farmers

Item on regulation changes in China and India at ISAAA

Offering New Hope to Farmers: 

The pandemic has refocused efforts to make improved seeds available for planting as the first step to growing more food. The availability of seeds is essential for farmers, particularly in developing countries or areas affected by droughts and other disasters, giving rise to the concept of “seed security, which the UN FAO defines as the "ready access by rural households, particularly farmers and farming communities, to adequate quantities of quality seed and planting materials of crop varieties, adapted to their agro-ecological conditions and socioeconomic needs, at planting time, under normal and abnormal weather conditions." In many developing countries, quality seed is commonly produced by companies operating under public scrutiny. So far, in 2022, new regulations on using biotechnology (genetic modification and gene editing) have been put in place by the two most populous countries in the world, China and India, to improve their competitive position by developing new seeds which will improve their food production capacities and increase resilience to climate change... continues at ISAAA.