GMOs can help address world hunger

The argument

GMOs have modifications that can help address world hunger, and the case rests on the range of different problems those modifications are able to address at once. First, GMOs can add important nutrients to food. One prominent example of this is Golden Rice, which is modified rice that is vitamin A enhanced. That matters because hunger is not only a question of calories: a population can be fed and still be deficient, and a staple crop that carries a nutrient into every meal reaches people who may never encounter a supplement programme. Other modifications are directed at how much food can be grown in the first place. There are modifications to increase yield and create disease resistance, so that a larger share of what is planted survives to be eaten rather than being lost. There are also modifications to help crops grow faster and tolerate environmental stressors, which means that the crops can grow in non-ideal farming areas such as those that suffer droughts. This extends cultivation to land that would otherwise produce nothing, rather than merely competing for the land that already works. All of these modifications can help people grow enough food across the world despite the climate crisis. A third group addresses the distance between where food grows and where it is needed. Modifications can also help crops stay fresh longer, which means they can be transported farther to areas in need. Hunger is frequently a problem of distribution rather than of total supply — food exists but spoils before it reaches the people who lack it — so extending the window between harvest and spoilage enlarges the area that any given harvest can serve. These factors mean that GMOs could be the answer to addressing world hunger with an ever-growing population. They could help us navigate how to grow with the challenges of climate change, which is why, on this argument, GMOs are good.

Premises

Counter-arguments

This argument is predicated on the notion that world hunger is a result of a lack of food. That is incorrect. According to the World Food Programme, the world produces enough food to feed the entire global population more than 2,000 calories a day. The problem isn’t a lack of food; it is a lack of purchasing power. In areas of famine, you can actually have food being exported because the people there don’t have the purchasing power to buy the food.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P3] GMOs won't help address world hunger because it isn't caused by a lack of food, but by a lack of purchasing power.