Golden rice: biofortification to combat malnutrition

Golden Rice contains the genes essential to activate the biochemical pathway for the production pro-vitamin A. Thus this biochemical pathway is activated especially in the endosperm. The intensity of the “golden colour” represents the concentration of pro-vitamin A. In developing countries, 500,000 people become blind each year and up to 6,000 die per day from vitamin A-malnutrition. This is despite enormous efforts from public and philanthropic institutions to reduce this medical problem with the help of traditional interventions such as supplementation, fortification, encouragement for diet diversification, etc. This heavy toll that poor people in developing countries are deprived of the basic nutrition needed to sustain life. Biotechnology is one of the several means to achieve and sustain food security, equitable access to health services, a safe environment, and industry development. In agriculture, biotechnology can be applied in many different ways, and one of the most well-known and talked-about is through the development of genetically modified (GM) crops. Farmers and consumers benefit from rice genetic research because it leads to new rice varieties that have higher yield, higher quality, and are more resistant to pests, diseases, and the effects of climate change. The potential benefits of GM rice are also important, particularly around improving nutrition. Once Golden Rice varieties have passed the national bio-safety procedures, it will be made available to subsistence farmers free of cost It will become the property of the farmers so that they can grow it year after year and use part of their harvest for the next sowing without additional costs. The farmers will use their traditional farming systems which do not require any additional agronomic inputs.