Nuclear crops 'tried and tested'

2008-12-02 19:19

Veronika Oleksyn

Vienna - The UN nuclear watchdog called for more investment in nuclear crop breeding, saying on Tuesday it could help fight global starvation if used more widely.

For years, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has used radiation to produce improved plants with plentiful yields that can survive in harsh climates or are resistant to diseases.

"To provide sustainable, long-term solutions, we must make use of all available resources," IAEA director-general Mohamed ElBaradei said in a statement.

"The IAEA is urging a revival of nuclear crop-breeding technologies to help tackle world hunger."

'Safe and cost-effective'

The technique in question, known as mutation induction, has been used since the 1920s and has resulted in more than 3 000 crop varieties of some 170 different plant species, according to the IAEA, which is working on the matter in co-operation with the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Some of the new crop varieties include barley that grows at 5 000 metres in the Peruvian Andes, rice that can survive in saline soil in Vietnam and Sudanese bananas that produce up to 100% higher yields.

With people around the world being pushed into poverty because of food shortages and higher prices for staples, the IAEA argues that now is the time to take a new look at a well-worn tool that is both safe and cost-effective.

"It's non-hazardous, it's low-cost and it has proven its effectiveness," said Pierre Lagoda, who heads the IAEA's plant-breeding and genetics section.

"It's about using the right tool in the right way."

Lagoda, in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, said the programme has a budget of $25 million - not enough to be fully effective.

"We're not asking for billions, small money can take us a very long way," Lagoda said, without giving a specific figure.

Better crops, greater benefits

Another success story the IAEA attributes to mutation induction technology is wheat grown in Kenya that was bred to be drought-tolerant and high yielding.

In Pakistan, meanwhile, a mutant producing better quality and higher-yielding crops quadrupled cotton production within 10 years of its release and now accounts for 70% of all cotton grown in the Punjab.

Lagoda and others also argue that use of the technique can lead to significant economic gain for countries and regions - especially in the developing world.

Farmers in the high Andes, for example, now produce enough grain to meet their personal food needs, with enough left over for processing into pearl barley, flour and flakes.

As a result, small factories have been created and work with the farmers in a collective initiative, benefiting poor communities in the area.

- AP