GM Crops: Not a Universal Solution, Experts Say

New Delhi, Sep 8 (PTI) Genetically modified (GM) crops can offer targeted solutions for specific agricultural challenges, but their effectiveness varies significantly across different crops and traits, experts said at an event organized by the World Food Prize Foundation here on Monday.

"Any possible solution should be something that everyone should consider. It may not be the right solution for every individual farmer, but GM is something that we should look at," said Nicole Barreca Prenger, Senior Director (Strategic Communications) at the US-based World Food Prize Foundation, quoting Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug's philosophy.

Speaking at a media briefing about the foundation's 'Dialogue Next' conference, Prenger emphasized the urgency of exploring all available agricultural technologies.

"It could help one and it could not help the other, but why wouldn't we try to do what we can do? We are running on borrowed time and we are doing everything that we can," she said.

The solutions discovered by Borlaug were effective for 25 years, but new approaches are now needed to address current agricultural challenges, Prenger added. "So is GM the answer? Yes for some, no for others, but we need to continue to look and continue to look for any solution that we can find."

B M Prasanna, Managing Director of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), explained that genetic modification works best in crops with simpler genomes.

"In rice, just by altering one gene either through genetic modification or genome editing, you can have a drastic change in phenotype. It's not the case in all crops," he said.

Different crops respond differently to genetic interventions based on their genome complexity, Prasanna noted. "What can be done in rice cannot be done in maize. What can be done in maize may not be possible in another crop. So solutions have to be very carefully looked at."

Drawing from his experience at CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), Prasanna said complex traits like drought or heat tolerance in crops such as maize and wheat cannot be addressed through simple single-gene modifications.

"It is a complex genetic system out there. So we are optimizing systems like genomic selection or genomic prediction," he explained.

However, genome editing has shown remarkable success for specific disease resistance traits.

"For resistance to a disease like maize lethal necrosis, we just did genome editing in Kenya and it worked wonders," Prasanna said.

He emphasized that there is no universal approach to genetic improvement.

"There are certain traits where genome editing can do an extremely good job. There are certain other traits where genomic prediction or genomic selection works better. It's not one single mantra or recipe for all problems. We need to tailor it depending upon the crop and the complexity of the trait."

The experts stressed the importance of keeping an open mind about various agricultural technologies while recognizing that solutions must be customized based on specific crops and regional needs.