GM Sweet Potato  "Without
the sweet potato, there would be terrible hunger," says Robert Odeu
from Dokolo village in northeast Uganda. A decade of civil war, pest, and
disease has resulted in devastation and starvation. Dokolo village is not
alone. In Uganda, as in other countries of sub-Saharan Africa, thousands
of villages depend on sweet potato for food security.
Why is it so popular? Sweet potato is dependable. Under adverse climatic conditions and low-input regimes, it yields higher amounts of food energy and micronutrients per unit area than any other crop. Plants keep producing despite drought, for months. Sweet potato is flexible. Farmers can stagger production across the region's two rainy seasons. They can leave the crop in the ground, harvesting only a little when needed, or they can harvest everything at once. Sweet potato has been modified to resist sweet potato virus disease (SPVD). |
Related topics: Summary Report on the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops - [View the 2004 report] Transgenic Crops - [Click Here] Extensive Study on Bt Cotton - [Click Here] Download the complete copy of the ISAAA Briefs on Global Status/Review of GM Crops - [Click Here] SciDev.Net's dossier on GM crops - [Click here] Global Status of Approved Genetically Modified Plants - [Click here] |
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