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Enhancing the crops to feed the poor

Nature volume 418, pages 678–684 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Solutions to the problem of how the developing world will meet its future food needs are broader than producing more food, although the successes of the 'Green Revolution' demonstrate the importance of technology in generating the growth in food output in the past. Despite these successes, the world still faces continuing vulnerability to food shortages. Given the necessary funding, it seems likely that conventional crop breeding, as well as emerging technologies based on molecular biology, genetic engineering and natural resource management, will continue to improve productivity in the coming decades.

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Figure 1: Annual growth rate of cereal yields and sown area in developing and developed countries, 1977–2001.
Figure 2
Figure 3: Area sown to genetically modified crops in developing countries in 2001.
Figure 4: Genetically modified crop traits tested in developed countries, 1987–2000.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resource Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 917 Building, Anwai Datun Road, Beijing, 100101, China

    Jikun Huang

  2. Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Rutgers University, 55 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, 08901-8520, New Jersey, USA

    Carl Pray

  3. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, 95616, California, USA

    Scott Rozelle

Authors
  1. Jikun Huang
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  3. Scott Rozelle
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Correspondence to Scott Rozelle.

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Huang, J., Pray, C. & Rozelle, S. Enhancing the crops to feed the poor. Nature 418, 678–684 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01015

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