TY  - JOUR
N2  - The world population is increasing at an alarming rate and is expected to increase from 6.5 billion at present to 7.5 billion by 2025. Most of this population lives in the rural areas in the developing countries where poverty, food insecurity and nutritional deficiencies are the major
 problems. Low crop productivity, limited use of inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides and
 losses due to biotic and abiotic stress factors are a major constraint to increase production and
 productivity of crops. With the advent of genetic engineering, it has become possible to clone and
 insert genes into the crop plants to confer resistance to insect pests and improve the nutritional
 quality. Genetically transformed crops with Bacillus thuringiensis and herbicide resistance genes
 have been deployed for cultivation in USA, Canada, China and Australia. However, very little has
 been done to use this technology for improving crop production in the harsh environments of the
 tropics, where the need for increasing food production is most urgent. However, there is a need to
 follow the biosafety regulations and a better presentation of the results to the general public for a
 rational deployment of the genetically transformed crops for improving the livelihoods of the rural poor.

AV  - public
A1  - Sharma, H C
A1  - Sharma, K K
A1  - Seetharama, N
A1  - Ortiz, R
TI  - Genetic transformation of crop plants: Risks and
opportunities for the rural poor

UR  - http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/vol80.htm
JF  - Current Science
SP  - 1495
Y1  - 2001///
ID  - icrisat2096
EP  - 1508
SN  - 0011-3891
VL  - 80
PB  - Indian Academy of Sciences
IS  - 12
ER  -