Welcome!

Role of genetically-modified foods in emerging markets

Dr. Satyendra Singh

Professor, Marketing & International Business
University of Winnipeg, CANADA
https://abem.uwinnipeg.ca
s.singh@uwinnipeg.ca

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 900m people without food by 2030

https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000118395/download/?_ga=2.247066564.1583115507.1605813001-1303305821.1605813001
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 What are GM Foods?
Crops created for human/animal consumption using the
molecular biology technique to get desired traits such as:

Product Trait Advantage

Tomato Delay repining, size Easy to ship, less damage
Peas Sweet Taste
Potato High starch Less oil when cooking
Corn Pest resistant Less damage by insect, virus…
Cotton Herbicide resistant Kills only weeds, not corp
Strawberries Cold resistant Withstands freezing and thawing

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https://guardian.ng/features/top-20-genetically-modified-foods-products
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 Role of GM Foods in emerging markets

By 2050pop. 9b  food strategy for next 20 yrs

Need more food, as such hunger and starvation
3m deaths/year in Africa solely relating to hunger
3 options: aid/food, money/funds, provide GM foods

GM foods: Rapid, accurate,↑ yield, ↓labor, ↑shelf-life

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Other GM advancements

http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=USRTXTZ7A#a=1

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Global GM foods/seeds manufacturers

https://1000logos.net
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 Advantages of GM Foods…
Pest resistance
Crop loss due to insets  financial loss to farmers
S, farmers use tons of pesticides/fertilizers annually
GM eliminates pesticides and thus ↓ cost of production

Disease resistance
Viruses, fungi, bacteria  plant diseases
GM crops resistance to these diseases

Cold resistance
Frost can destroy sensitive seedlings
Antifreeze gene from cold fish  tobacco and potatoes

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 Advantages of GM Foods
Drought resistance
More population  ↑ land for housing, ↓ land for farming
Land unsuited for plant cultivation  Africa, dessert
GM crops  grow in draughts or ↑ salt-content soil
Nutrition
Single crop (rice) cannot give all the nutrition needed
Lack vitamin A  blindness  common in EMs
GM food: golden rice has Vitamin A (beta-carotene)
GM food: with enhanced iron is underway, Europe?
Pharmaceuticals
Edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes
Easier to ship, store, administer than traditional injections
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 The debate

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-gmo-debate-5-things-to-
stop-arguing/2014/10/27/e82bbc10-5a3e-11e4-b812-38518ae74c67_story.html
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 Criticism of GM Foods…

Environmental hazards
Unintended harm to other organism
Difficult to design toxin  kills crop-damaging pests, not other insects
Reduced effectiveness of pesticides
Develops resistance  DDT
Gene transfer to non-target species
Cross-breeding
Transfer of herbicide resistance from crops to weeds
The “superweeds” will then have herbicide tolerance as well
Solution
Create buffer zone
Enviro pigs  they do not produce phosphates!
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 Criticism of GM Foods…

Human health risks

Allergenicity
We already have allergies to peanuts and other foods…
Introducing gene may create more allergies
Unknown effects on human health
A proposal to introduce a gene from Brazil nuts into Soyabeans was abandoned

On the whole, with the exception of possible allergenicity, scientists

believe that GM foods do not present a risk to human health!

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 Criticism of GM Foods
Economic concerns
Lengthy and costly process
May be patented
Monsanto, Novartis, Dow, DuPont hold patents for GM crops
Make substantial profit by exporting it to EMs
Farmers from developing countries/EM cannot afford
More gap between rich and poor

Other invention  discouraged/stopped

Suicide gene technology
Only one growing per season
Next time would produce sterile seeds that do not germinate
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 Governments and GM foods acceptance
Europe: Anti-GM protests (Austria, France, Hungary)
Japan: GM testing is mandatory. Customers for organic
USA: FDA  GM foods are substantially equivalent to natural food, so not subject to FDA
regulations
GRAS  Generally Recognized As Safe
India: No policy yet  for GM  ↓ poverty
Brazil: Some states have banned GM crops
↑Smuggle to compete with grain-exporting countries
Africa: EU opposes the use of GM in Africa
S. Africa, Sudan, Zimbabwe have GM laws; Kenya Act  2009
Argentina: Very pro-GM
New Zealand: NO GM Foods grown here!
Russia: NO GM Foods except research purposes

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 GM food labeling

No need to label  ie same nutrition information

Europe and Japan  Mandatory
1% contamination of unmodified products with GM foods
Consumers have the right the know the information
Let consumers decide  but no choice
Reduced sales, so processors do not sell GM foods
EU has disguised policy of protectionism
Canada and US  Voluntary
Mandatory for Non-GM foods
Let consumers decide  more choices

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Traditional international entry mode strategy

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Multi-mode international entry strategy for GM crops

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 Questions?
s.singh@uwinnipeg.ca

https://abem.uwinnipeg.ca