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Dr. Jeffrey Sachs


Position: Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University; Director of the United Nations Millennium Project; President and Co-Founder of Millennium Promise Alliance

Education: Ph.D, M.A., B.A., Harvard University

Notable: Named among the 100 most influential leaders in the world by Time Magazine in 2004 and 2005; Recipient of the Sargent Shriver Award for Equal Justice; Author of hundreds of scholarly articles and many books including The End of Poverty

Getting those technologies to the poorest farmers is absolutely one of the keys to making the breakthrough out of extreme poverty.
Getting those technologies to the poorest farmers is absolutely one of the keys to making the breakthrough out of extreme poverty.
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JEFFREY SACHS SUPPORTS EXPANDED USE OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Pros of Genetically Modified Foods Include Potential to Alleviate Poverty and Hunger

About one billion people — or one-sixth of the world's population — live in extreme poverty on less than $1 per day. For these individuals, losing a crop to a drought or a crop-destroying insect can be the difference between life and death. Farming innovations such as genetically modified foods can contribute to poverty alleviation by increasing yields, improving nutrition and generating income among resource-poor farmers in developing countries.

“What we see is that with very practical approaches — of investing in improved agriculture, of investing in improved infrastructure, of investing in basic health — not only will the quality of life for the poorest of the poor be raised tremendously, not only will millions of people who otherwise will die be able to stay alive, but also, they will begin the process of economic development. It will unlock the poverty trap and allow them to start moving forward,” says Jeffrey Sachs, a leading international economic advisor, who for more than 20 years has been involved in identifying challenges to and solutions for poverty and hunger alleviation in developing countries.

Globally, more than 800 million people — 300 million of which are children — go to bed hungry every day. Of these children, more than 90 percent are suffering from long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency. “There's now promise in the case of many of the biotechnologies in agriculture of fortifying nutrients in places where the people are facing massive nutrient deficiencies — of course, traits that protect against local pests and pathogens,” comments Sachs on the pros of genetically modified foods.

As director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and of the United Nations Millennium Project, Sachs is supportive of and promotes policies that expand economic opportunities and well-being throughout the world. Genetically modified foods hold great promise for subsistence farmers in developing countries because the technology is delivered in the seed. For example, genetically modified corn hybrids produce a protein that protects the plant from specific insect pests — eliminating the danger of crop loss due to insect infestations. Research is currently underway to develop plants that can survive drought conditions.

“This would be a phenomenal breakthrough, especially for Africa, which is nearly a whole continent afflicted with the massive risk and reality of drought,” continues Sachs. In 1960, Africa was a net exporter of food, but today imports one-third of its grain, with more than 40 percent of Africans unable to obtain sufficient food on a day-to-day basis.

South African farmers are the only Africans to currently reap the pros of genetically modified foods and crops. In 2005, South African farmers grew more than 1.2 million acres (500,000 hectares) of genetically modified corn, soybeans and cotton. Between 1997 and 2004, these farmers increased their incomes by US$56 million and reduced pesticide applications by 330,000 pounds (150,000 kg).

“You have a lot of African scientists who are right now saying, ‘This really fits our need. This technology is so powerful because it brings in one little seed everything that's needed. The seed's a great delivery,” comments Sachs. “The great news is those technologies exist. … Getting those technologies to the poorest farmers is absolutely one of the keys to making the breakthrough out of extreme poverty.”

© 2006 Monsanto Company. All rights reserved. The copyright holder consents to the use of this material and the images in the published context only and solely for the purpose of promoting the benefits of agricultural biotechnology.

Video Transcript



I'm Jeffrey Sachs. I'm director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, and I'm also director of the United Nations Millennium Project. … In September 2000, the leaders of the governments of the United Nations agreed to a set of ambitious — but achievable — targets to cut extreme poverty. …

Most parts of the world are achieving economic progress, but for about a billion people, you find an often a vicious circle of hunger, ill health, massive disease burden, environmental degradation, population pressures and poverty. … And millions of people literally are dying of their poverty. … They're too poor to get enough to eat, to have access to safe drinking water. …

They're dying. And what we see is that with very practical approaches — of investing in improved agriculture, of investing in improved infrastructure, of investing in basic health — not only will the quality of life for the poorest of the poor be raised tremendously, not only will millions of people who otherwise will die be able to stay alive, but also, they will begin the process of economic development. It will unlock the poverty trap and allow them to start moving forward.

Take any place on the planet that was once extremely poor and is now either developed or on its way to becoming a developed economy, you'll find almost inevitably an agricultural revolution at the start of that … — a big rise in productivity, in the amount of food grown per hectare of land. …

There's now promise in the case of many of the biotechnologies in agriculture of fortifying nutrients in places where the people are facing massive nutrient deficiencies — of course … traits that protect against local pests and pathogens. Now there's the possibility of drought-resistant varieties. … This would be a phenomenal breakthrough, especially for Africa, which is nearly a whole continent afflicted with the massive risk and reality of drought. …

You have a lot of African scientists who are right now saying, “This really fits our need. … This technology is so powerful because it brings in one little seed everything that's needed. … The seed's a great delivery.” …

… The great news is those technologies exist. … Getting those technologies to the poorest farmers is absolutely one of the keys to making the breakthrough out of extreme poverty. …

I believe that it's important to find ways to get powerful tools to the poor, … but to do it with the vision of investment, rather than a vision of simply a hand out. … If we give important technologies to grow more food in poor places — better seed varieties, better ways to manage soil nutrients, better ways to manage plant pathogens — … it's gonna create livelihoods. It's gonna create income in the villages. It's going to convert what is now sub-subsistence agriculture into commercial farming. And that is going to make this sustainable fundamentally. In other words, we're helping the poorest of the poor to invest in a sustainable future for themselves.

© 2006 Monsanto Company. All rights reserved. The copyright holder consents to the use of this material and the images in the published context only and solely for the purpose of promoting the benefits of agricultural biotechnology.