Staple foods such as rice may be the only foods available. As we attack all causes of hunger and malnutrition, increasing the nutritional content of staple foods can make a difference in people's lives. Drought and disease plague developing country farmers around the world. Here, too, modern biotechnology can make a difference. Scientists are exploring ways to make mangoes, cassava, plantains and other tropical crops resistant to drought and virus-born diseases.
Pests are also a significant barrier to agricultural productivity around the world.
By using modern biotechnology, scientists can insert natural pesticides such as Bt into crops, reducing loss due to insect damage. This technology is already helping farmers increase productivity, while reducing pesticide usage, here in the United States. In the developing world, the technology can help promote food security and increase incomes among poor farmers. Such applications would reap enormous benefits for poor farmers, who could use their scarce resources to produce crops that would better feed their families while lessening or removing the need to convert new lands to agriculture. And, these applications would help to protect farmers from environmental fluctuations, such as drought.