By 2050 the world will have to at least double food production in order to feed 9 billion people. To do this sustainably the world should not have to increase the land area used today for agriculture, according to Clive James, Chairman of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).

Speaking at a press lunch today in Brussels, Dr James said that “No Single approach will provide a solution to food, feed and fiber security - conventional crop improvement alone will not double food production by 2050, biotech crops although not a panacea are essential.”

“There is cause for cautious optimism that the global area of biotech crops and the number of farmers planting them will continue to grow in 2004 and beyond,” James said.  Within the next five years, ISAAA predicts that at least 10 million farmers in 25 or more countries will plant 100 million hectares of biotech crops.

In 2003, 3.4 billion people – more than half the world’s population - lived in countries where biotech crops were approved, grown and delivered significant benefits to farmers and society.

According to Clive James “Seven million farmers in 18 countries - more than 85% are resource-poor farmers in the developing world - now plant biotech crops, up from 6 million in 16 countries in 2002. Almost one-third of the global biotech crop area is grown in developing countries, up from one-quarter last year.”

Presentation by Clive James in PDF format: http://www.europabio.org/upload/documents/200404/presentation.pdf

ISAAA is a not for profit institute that contributes to poverty alleviation by increasing crop productivity and income generation particularly for resource-poor farmers, through biotechnology transfer. ISAAA is cosponsored by the public and private sectors with the principal support provided by philanthropic foundations and bilateral aid agencies.