My Thoughts About GMO And Hybrid Crops🤔
The 1840’s were a bleak time in Irish history, one(1) in every 6 people dies of starvation. In the next few years, so many people left the country and never returned. Over the next few decades, the number of people in the town is half of what it used to be.
During the Irish famine, 1 000 000 people which is about 15% of the population died and another 1.5 million people fled the country immediately. This led to a permanent decline in the Irish population. The entire population of Ireland and the whole world was changed forever due to one persistent devastating fungus. The Late Blight (Phytophthora infestans), is a type of fungus that attacks potatoe plants leaving them inedible, the fungus was spread easily in the wind and infects plants and this was greatly disastrous to Ireland, due to the potatoes that was greatly relied on for food and this lead to the spread of diseases. This fungus poses a significant problem to the growth of potatoes. Long after the farmine period, the late Blight is still a 5 billion dollar problem for the global potatoes industry, Farmers started crossing-breeding some potatoes to resist this fungus but this took decades, farmers also began to spray their farms regularly with insecticides to prevent the fungus and this cost them alot of money. In 2015, a breakthrough occurred, a new GMO potatoes was developed that could resist the Late Blight that killed so many using blight resistant genes from wild potatoe plants.The GM potatoes developed can save farmers alot of time and money
What are hybrid plants?
Hybrid plants are obtained when two different plant varieties are selected and cross-bred under controlled conditions. Cross-breeding may occur naturally to produce a seed that has certain valuable traits that can then be used to grow new plants.
For example, two seeds, A and B, may have individual features which include; Seed A is disease resistant while seed B is capable of growing in hot environmental conditions. we can cross-pollinate both seeds to obtain a seed that has both features. These seeds can then be planted. Some benefits that can be obtained from hybrid plants include;
- crop durability
- High production yield
- increased size of food/ vegetables
- improved taste.
What is GMO
GMO is an abbreviation for genetically modified organisms. Today, everything we eat has been genetically altered in some manner. GM (Genetic modification) is a technology that involves inserting DNA into the genome of an organism. To produce a genetically modified plant, new DNA is transferred into the plant cells. Usually, the cells are then grown in tissue culture where they develop into plants. The seeds produced by these plants will inherit the new DNA.
The characteristics of all living organisms are determined by their genetic makeup and it’s interaction with the environment. The genetic makeup of an organism is its genome, the genome contains genes. Genes are regions of DNA that usually carry the instructions for making proteins. It is these proteins that give the plant its characteristics.
Genetic modification of plants involves adding a specific stretch of DNA into the plant’s genome, giving it new or different characteristics. These characteristics could include changing the way the plants grow or making them resistant to a particular disease. The new DNA inserted becomes part of the genetically modified plant’s genome which the seeds produced by these plants will contain.
Some advantages of GM Foods includes;
They are appealing to eat and better nutrition and improved flavour
They give mass to stronger crops that can withstand extreme growth conditions and resistance to diseases
They have a greater shelf life
They are cheaper, which means more foods can be produced with less land, less water, and fewer pesticides compared to conventional crops
improved nutritional content, example rice can be genetically modified to give a large amount of vitamin A

Lead to the development of new products e.g a new type of tomatoes have been discovered to grow in salty soil and also the decaffeinated coffee seeds are been produced by isolating the gene responsible for caffeine in coffee.
Disadvantages of GM Plants;
Allergic reactions, mixing genes of two organisms can lead to a possibility of transfer of disease caused by these bacteria and viruses
Sub-bugs may be produced; that is stronger and pesticide-resistant insects
Resistance to antibiotics
Out-crossing; these genetically modified crops may pollinate natural crops leading to the transfer of traits; therefore leading to difficulty in identification of real hybrid crops.
Hybrid foods don’t use Genetically Modified Organisms(GMO) Technology, instead, hybrids use traditional pollination that naturally occurs in nature with controlled pollination technique, which gives fruits and foods with uniform sizes and shapes, increased juiciness, improved taste, and better nutrition. Controlled pollination technique includes process like hand pollination which are managed to produce seeds with greater characteristics. Examples of hybrid fruits include seedless apples, varieties of dates and kiwis, seedless pineapples, seedless grapes, seedless citrus fruits, e.t.c.
By changing a single gene, it alters the entire organism, the disadvantages of GM foods may include an allergic reaction, studies suggested that consumption of genetically modified foods may lead to an increased chance of developing tumors in the lungs, breast e.t.c.
In conclusion,
Organisms have been modified since the dawn of agriculture.
In my opinion, we really don’t need GMO’S instead we need to advance sustainable agriculture and there are many important tools that we need, such as ecologically-based farming practices, seeds e.t.c.
Seeds obtained via genetic modification could be developed through many approaches, but generally, some problems have no real solution except through genetic engineering. Some insecticides are also very toxic, that’s why genetic engineering is important to make these plants insect resistant.
To reduce people’s fear about GMOs, every crop should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis whether it is genetically engineered or not. Also, it has been concluded that Major scientific organizations in the world, including the National academy of sciences, the European food safety authority, amongst many others, have concluded that that the process of genetic engineering is no riskier than conventional breeding.
Although the topic of GMOs has also been politicized making it very difficult for consumers to adequately access accurate, science-based information but at Farmz2u to you we are dedicated to providing farmers with accurate and science-based information on hybrids plants and GMO’s so as to eliminate the anxiety and fear and also also to promote sustainable agriculture.

Reference:

https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/gm-plants/what-is-gm-and-how-is-it-done/