30 Asia The Economist May 4th 2024

form of 24 "Modi's guarantees". "We are ment situation has deteriorated over the dren of vitamin-A
at risk deficiency. (This
struggling,but all the good things my fam same period. Labour-force participation a tiny share of the 20m tonnes of rice
is still

ily has-cooking gas, bank accounts, elec has fallenand unemployment has risen cultivated in the country that year.)
tricity-we owe to Mr Modi,"' says Siyaram, among people under the age of 30. The Across Asia, GM crops for human con
a 23-year-old who runs a food cart in Patna. BJP's manifesto vows to create more jobsby sumption are not commonly grown. The
The BJP good at social media,
is also investing in infrastructure and by promot- Philippine ban, which also blocks cultiva
where most young people consume news, ing manufacturing and entrepreneurship. tion of a GM aubergine, could set a prece
says Prateek Waghre of the Internet Free But the plans are thin ondetail. dent. Bangladesh,where a fifth of children
dom Foundation, an advocacy group in This lack of progress may eventually are vitamin-A deficient, has been mulling

Delhi. Mr Modi directly communicates come back to bite Mr Modi. Sofar, protests whether to approve golden rice. Arif Hos
with nearly 10om followers on X (formerly against the dire employment situation sain, a Bangladeshibiotech advocate, fears
Twitter). The prime minister has almost have been sporadic, most notably in re will now be blocked. (Since 2013 farmers
gom followers on Instagram,which has be sponse to an army reform that reduced there have cultivated aubergine
the
tween 36om and s0om active users in In benefits for new recruits. Yet turnout in the banned in the Philippines. isengineered
It
dia, most of them younger than 35. He first two phases of the election has been to repel insects, and has improved yields
sweet-talks Indians on his monthly radio lower than in 2019, perhaps suggesting while cutting insecticide use.)
show, short clips of which make it onto waning enthusiasn for Mr Modi. For now, Elsewhere in Asiagovernments are hes
WhatsApp and Instagram. The BJP was young people seem willing to give his gov itant to upset farmers, often a powerful
also early to build relationships with influ ernment the benefit of the doubt. Unless voting bloc. Indian farmers rail against GM
encers on Instagram and YouTube. By con- he delivers on jobs this time around, they foods; only GM cotton is grown in the
trast, Congress, the main opposition party, may not do so again. country. Mr Diego says "farmers are not al

has only belatedly started targeting young ways included" in decisions on crops. He is
people through social media. part ofMASIPAG, a group in the Philippines
Many young people also think Mr Mo Rice in Asia that promotes "food sovereignty" and agri
di's government has raised the profile of

the country. A study published earlier this No to GMO culture "led by farmers". It argues that Fili

pinos can get more vitamin A by eating

year by the Observer Research Founda other foods, such as squash, than golden
tion, a think-tank in Delhi, found that 83% rice. Greenpeace says advocates have yet
of urban Indians between 18 and 35 ap to show concrete evidence that GM crops
SINGAPORE
proved of the country's foreign policy. As would be in the best interests of Filipinos.
many again saw the country's G20 presi The Philippines bans somegenetically The Philippine government says the
dency, a rotational position touted by the modified foods golden-rice ban willhave "significant" im
government as Mr Modis personal plications for food security. For every year
achievement, as an effective way of tack REENPEACE DESCRIBED it as a "mon that golden-rice cultivation is delayed,

ling India's interests abroad. Certain devel- Uumental win". Lauro Diego, a rice thousands in Asia will die, says Matin

opment policies also
approval. Though some young people may
not think that the government has im
proved their own circumstances, they still
appear to think Mr Modi has done some
find near-universal farmer in the Philippines, sees it as a Qaim, a researcher from the University of
"triumph" against "genetic erosion": But Bonn who sits on the Golden Rice Hu
advocates of genetically modified (GM) manitarian Board, a pro-GM group.
foods say the decision could be disastrous Some 60% of the world's people live in
for poor Filipinos. In April environmental Asia. Food demand is rising as populations

good for the country. ists convinced a court in the Philippines to grow. Climate change is damaging har
Someof their problems also predate the ban golden rice, a GM food that had been vests. GM crops, which in principle better

BJP. Job growth has been poor:despite eco approved for cultivation in 2021. Green resist droughts, heat and floods brought
nomic growth averaging 6.4% each year ov groups claimed it could contaminate other on by a warming planet, may save lives.
er the past 30 years, the number of jobs crops. Their success could scupper a gold
grew by only 1.6% a year between 2000 and en opportunity to feed the Philippines-
2012 and not at all between 2012 and 2019. and possibly Asia.
Young people are particularly affected. Most Asians eat white rice, which is not
They have become better educated over very Partly as a result, around a
nutritious.

the past two decades, yet their employ sixth of Filipino children do not get
enough vitamin A. This deficiency can
contribute to blindness or premature
Where are all thejobs? death. One solution is to engineer the rice

India, youth unemployment rate", % to include beta-carotene, a chemical pre

By education level cursor of vitamin A that turns kernels gold.
50 No serious scientific evidence suggests
Tertiary that golden rice, or any GM foodstuff,
40 harms human health. America, Australia
and New Zealand have ruled it safe. The
Upper-secondary
30
golden-rice project is not run by greedy
Primary to corporations-a common fear of anti-GM
20
lower-secondary activists. is managed by the Philippine
10 government and the International Rice Re
search Institute (IRRI), an organisation
Lower than primary based in the country. Some farmers were
2018 19 20 22 23
meant to receive free seeds. The first har
21
vests, in 2022, produced more than 100
Source:ILO "15-to 24 olds
year-
tonnes of rice, which mostly went to chil- Wastinga golden opportunity