Almost 20 years ago, I first started my career in the development sector. I was posted in Northwest Bangladesh, working on advocacy issues relating to monga, or seasonal unemployment, that afflicts the entire region.
The principal cause of monga is always the same: Rural workers suffer from significant unemployment twice every year between aman and boro rice harvests, resulting in chronic hunger and income insecurity.
Although a variety of solutions have been tried to “solve” monga, ranging from a work for food program to making inter-district migration of workers easier, monga still persists, and more importantly, the victims of monga continue to suffer from persistent malnutrition and food insecurity.
Monga of course is a slightly extreme example, but I used to highlight how food insecurity is a long-standing problem nationwide, and the continuous attempts to solve them have not been successful mostly because it is treated as a symptom and not the underlying cause of deeper issues like chronic hunger and malnourishment.
Even in situations where the problem has been addressed head-on, the solutions such as subsidizing food prices and rationing food for the extreme poor have not made any long-term dents on food insecurity. The Northwest for example continues to lead the charts in hunger and malnutrition, although some gains have been made.
Recent shifts in policymaking, however, have started to raise hope.
Instead of solely relying on economics or politics to address hunger, policymakers have started using an old ally that has been in the background but is now taking the limelight: Science, more specifically biotechnology.
Biotechnology is a field of science that involves using live organisms and biological systems to develop new products or processes. Staying with our monga-hit region as an example, we can see how adopting biotechnology treats hunger and malnutrition very differently than traditional models of dealing with the problem.
Biotechnology can be used to produce crops that are more nutritious and have higher levels of vitamins and minerals. For example, the use of genetically modified (GM) cotton across the border in India has led to significant crop yields and has helped to reduce the use of pesticides. Similarly in Bangladesh, biotechnology can be used to develop GM rice varieties that are more resistant to droughts, pests and diseases, and at the same time provide higher yields.
For example, Bangladeshi scientists have collaborated to develop GM crops that are enriched with vitamin A. Popularly known as Golden Rice, it can provide up to 50% of the daily requirements of vitamin A in children, according to a study conducted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
Golden rice also has the potential to improve the livelihoods of our farmers by increasing crop yields, directly reducing poverty and augmenting income generation in the region.
Going to a different region like the Southwest, the problems might be dissimilar, but the solutions remain the same.
In Khulna for example, a place vulnerable to droughts that adversely affects agriculture, biotechnology can help develop crops that are resistant to the arid conditions by developing genetically modified rice that can flourish even in extreme heat.
Science can even help develop crops that are resistant to diseases, thus reducing the need for pesticides and other chemicals. But the real benefits of biotechnology in farming and fighting hunger can be sowed nationwide and not just in one specific region.
For example, biotechnology can be used to improve food preservation and processing methods, which can help reduce food waste and directly address food security nationwide.
Currently we lack technology that enables us to store fruits and vegetables throughout the year, or the costs of storage become so high that it prices out both farmers and consumers from producing them.
Biotechnology can help with new techniques that can extend shelf life of not only fruits and vegetables, but also foods like fish and dairy products.
I want to end with a caveat: Biotechnology is not a silver bullet. It does not provide an all-encompassing solution and will not solve Bangladesh's food security and nutrition problems overnight.
Science has to be supported with good policies and a pro-science environment where our scientists are given a platform. However, what science can do better than other solutions is to address food security and malnutrition head-on as opposed to treating them like symptoms of a different kind of problem. And that can make all the difference.
Faruq Hasan is Senior Manager, Farming Future Bangladesh.
