Current Affairs Past Papers | Food Production through GMOs
The following question of CSS Current Affairs 2026 is solved by Sir Ammar Hashmi, the best Current Affairs Coach, on the guided pattern of Sir Syed Kazim Ali, which he taught to his students, scoring the highest marks in compulsory subjects for years. This solved past paper question is uploaded to help aspirants understand how to crack a topic or question, how to write relevantly, what coherence is, and how to include and connect ideas, opinions, and suggestions to score the maximum.
Outline
1- Introduction
2- What are the pros of food production through Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)?
- ✓ Higher Crop Yields Help Cater Food Insecurity
- ✓ Reduced Pesticide Use Ensures Food Quality
- ✓ Enhanced Nutritional Content Help Address Hidden Hunger
- ✓ Drought-Tolerant GM-Crops Cope with Climate-Change Effects
3- What are the cons of food production through Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)?
- ✓ Gene flow-led Environmental Risks
- ✓ Corporate Control Over GMO Patents
- ✓ Glyphosate-Resistant Crops and Herbicide Overuse
- ✓ High seed costs and Economic Impact on Farmers
4- Conclusion
Answer to the Question
Introduction
Genetic modification in agriculture, such as selective and cross-breeding, has recurrently been practiced in the history of food production. Likewise, it involves food production through Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Genetically Modified Organisms are living organisms whose genetic material is modified using biotechnology to produce desired traits. In Agriculture, GMO’s genetic material is modified to increase resistance to pests and improve nutritional content, making them useful to abate food insecurity. GM-crops lead to higher crop yields and can help address food insecurity. They help reduce pesticide use and ensure food safety. According to Britannica, a renowned general-knowledge English-language encyclopedia, GMOs were first approved for human consumption in the United States in 1994, and by the end of 2014, GM crops covered nearly 695,000 square miles of land in more than two dozen countries worldwide. However, deliberate alteration at the DNA level may lead to issues, such as glyphosate-resistant crops-led health issues and gene flow-led environmental risks. Other cons of GM-crops include corporate control over patents, glyphosate-resistant crops, and herbicide overuse, and high seed costs and economic impact on farmers. To conclude, the development of GM-crops requires caution considering their cons at a broader level. However, the use of alternatives where risks exacerbate its benefit can be a pragmatic strategy.
What are the Pros of Food Production through Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)?
The following points describe the benefits of GMOs in agriculture and food production.
- ✓ Higher Crop Yields Help Cater Food Insecurity
To begin, GM-engineered crops increase per-area crop yield; therefore, they can help cater to climate-change-induced food insecurity in the upcoming years in the following ways. First, through stress tolerance, GM crops withstand drought, i.e., drought-tolerant maize, as well as through resisting heat, flooding, or soil salinity. Second, through pest and disease resistance, as GM- crops don’t require the use of chemical insecticides. GM plants are endowed with a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that helps them produce a natural insecticide called Bt toxin. Bt crops reduce yield losses and use of chemical insecticides as they produce their own insecticide. Third, by increasing carbon sequestration, GM crops with deeper or more extensive root systems improve soil health and increase the amount of organic carbon stored in soil. Last, by decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, as some GM crops are nitrogen-use efficient, this can help reduce the need for synthetic fertilizer. The production of these fertilizers releases nitrogen oxides- a potent greenhouse gas- in the environment, reducing their need can help decrease GHG emissions.
- ✓ Reduced Pesticide Use Ensures Food Quality
As discussed earlier, GM crops can help cater to climate-change-induced food insecurity, having the ability to resist pests and diseases that limit the use of chemical insecticides. Undoubtedly, food safety is the leading aspect of food quality. GM crops ensure food safety, as they do not require the use of chemical insecticides, leading to less chemical residue on harvested crops and consumer exposure to harmful substances contained in such insecticides. Besides, they lower the risk of contamination and harvest delays. As far as contamination and harvest delay are concerned, certain pesticides have pre-harvest delays where urgent harvesting of the crop leads to exposure to the residue remains. Besides, lower residue remains limit the need for chemical removal steps in case of processed foods, reducing the degradation of food texture.
- ✓ Enhanced Nutritional Content Help Address Hidden Hunger
In addition, lower residue helps reduce the degradation of the nutrient density of processed foods, as it does not require much washing and peeling. It can help address hidden hunger, which is often cited as a nutritional deficiency, in the following way. First, through biofortification, which refers to enriching nutrients of staple crops, for example, golden rice, high-iron cassava and beans, and zinc-enhanced wheat. To begin, GM-engineered golden rice produces beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the body, and can help address vitamin A deficiency in areas where rice is a staple. Besides, high-iron cassava and beans help reduce maternal mortality rates associated with iron deficiency. Bio-fortified GM zinc-enhanced wheat provides a sustainable solution to growth and immune function issues caused by zinc deficiency. Second, through multi-nutrient enhancement, GM crops contain simultaneously elevated levels of different nutrients in a single food source. Third, improved protein quality, such as high-lysine corn, can help prevent protein deficiency. Thus, GM biofortified crops offer a life-saving, cost-effective, and sustainable intervention against malnutrition in such areas where food diversity is not possible due to poverty, climate, or geography. However, they do not replace the need for a diverse, balanced diet.
- ✓ Drought-Tolerant GM-Crops Cope with Climate-Change Effects
As discussed earlier, GM- engineered drought-tolerant maize helps cater to food insecurity through stress tolerance and withstanding drought. It helps cope with the adverse effects of climate change by maintaining crop yields under water scarcity. For example, MON 87460, a drought-tolerant GM maize developed by Monsanto/BAYER, maintains grain production under limited rainfall as compared to conventional maize, which suffers up to 40-80% yield losses during drought. In sub-Saharan Africa, field trials in different regions without traditional irrigation produced 35–50% higher yields compared to conventional varieties of maize during dry seasons. Besides, drought-tolerant crops enable farming in drier regions in the wake of rising-temperature-led expansion in the arid zones. Next, it helps conserve water resources due to the low demand for water inputs. In the case of drought, these fields can help stabilize food supplies and prices and can be stacked with pest resistance to provide climate protection from a single seed.
What are the cons of food production through Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)?
The following points describe the cons of food production through GMOs.
- ✓ Gene flow-led Environmental Risks
Gene flow is the transfer of genetic material from one population to another of the same or closely related species through wind and insects. In the case of GM-engineered crops, it involves pollen-mediated and seed-mediated gene flow. The environmental risks of gene flow from GM crops include creation of herbicide-resistant superweeds, loss of genetic diversity in wild populations, disruption of natural ecosystems, contamination of organic or conventional crops, and evolution of pest resistance.
- ✓ Corporate Control Over GMO Patents
As far as the seed and pesticide sector is concerned, its market is highly cluttered, with a select number of multi-national firms dominating it. According to Farm Action, a U.S.-based, farmer-led, nonpartisan nonprofit organization, Bayer, Corteva, ChemChina, and BASF control 62% of global agrichemical sales and 40% of the global seed market. The domination over GMO patents fundamentally changed farming by transferring control to corporations from farmers.
- ✓ Glyphosate-Resistant Crops and Herbicide Overuse
Glyphosate-resistant crops were introduced to limit herbicide overuse, but their secondary impacts increase the use of what was aimed to decrease. The use of glyphosate leads to glyphosate-resistant superweeds, which are tackled with the use of herbicides and more toxic chemicals than the herbicides themselves. Besides, it degrades soil health. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), herbicides are classified as probably carcinogenic to humans. Thus, the cons of GMO crops are not limited to agriculture but can have a direct impact on human health.
- ✓ High seed costs and Economic Impact on Farmers
Last, GM seeds are expensive and have a limited supply. On smallholders, it can be said that it’s a cost burden. Furthermore, technology agreements limit seed-saving for the next season, creating a recurring expense for smallholder farmers. Besides, the delay in seed use due to capacity issues or lack of awareness has economic impacts. At the state level, more subsidies are required in addition to the buying cost.
Conclusion
To conclude, despite having great benefits like higher crop yields and the potential to deter food insecurity, their development requires caution considering their cons at a broader level. However, the use of alternatives where risks exacerbate their benefit can be a pragmatic strategy. Deliberate alteration at the DNA level may lead to issues, such as glyphosate-resistant crops-led health issues and gene flow-led environmental risks. Other issues include glyphosate-resistant crops and herbicide overuse, and their high seed costs.
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