A Step in ending World Hunger?
What is the “tropical wheat” and how can it help end world hunger?
In March 2023, Brazil approved the farming and commercialisation of the genetic modified wheat variety known as HB4 (sometimes also called “tropical wheat”), developed by the Argentinian company Bioceres.
Although this news flew under the radar, the topic of “crops” and “wheat” is trending right now due to the Russian decision to not extend the Black Sea grain deal and actively bomb food storages and ports where the grain used to be shipped from.
Unlike Ukraine or Russia, Brazil has always been a net importer of wheat, and that’s the case for most countries located in the tropics. Due to a number of factors, but mostly temperature, wheat output in the tropics is very low and of poor quality, so most of the production is concentrated outside the tropics, forcing many countries from the “Global-South” to import it from the “Global-North.”
This may be about to change.
The HB4 strain is special because, as its nickname points out, it performs better on tropical climates than other wheat varieties, mainly thanks to its game-changing drought resistance.
The approval of the “tropical wheat” for widespread cultivation in Brazil (only the second country to do so) comes at a very convenient time due to three main reasons:
- Most countries in the tropics are food insecure to some degree.
- The invasion of Ukraine risks to aggravated food insecurity in poorer countries.
- Climate change will most certainly make it worse and cause similar problems in rich countries.
Last year, Brazil started aiming at finally becoming self-sufficient in wheat which, if successful, may turn the country into a net exporter of the grain. Even though this prospect might be reasonable considering the huge trade surplus Brazil has been accumulating in the last few years primarily due to agriculture exports, it is very unlikely it will solve world hunger by itself.
The real power of HB4 wheat is the possibility of it being used for farming in the actual tropical countries where food insecurity is a pressing crisis. Would the risk of famine scale down as these countries become more self-sufficient, the door to real development becomes wider and more feasible.
As mentioned, not only in the “Global-South”, “tropical wheat” might become useful in the “Global-North” as climate change aggravates droughts as we have seen in the US, leading wheat farmers to have their worst harvest in 60 years.
It is too soon to affirm that the HB4 wheat is such miracle and that it will single-handedly solve world hunger, but it is fair to assume that drought resistant crops are and will become a main source of calories for humans in the years and decades to come.
