Food for Thought: What’s ‘Gold’ about Golden Rice?

That’s one of the subjects I wanted to delve into while on my journey to the Philippines for the 16^th Edition of the Pan-Asia Farmers’ Exchange Program that concluded recently. The 5-day tour started with our landing on Oct 10 at Pampanga in the Philippines. Checked in, got introduced to various participants from various South Asian countries, gave a brief talk on FX 2022 and got an overview of planned activities for the next few days by Biotech Affairs Director, CropLife Asia, Dr. Sonny Tababa. The next day was packed with various sessions on the global impact of biotech crops, and sustainable corn production, to mention a few. It was on Oct 12 we had on our itinerary a visit to Philippine Rice Research Institute aka PhilRice, where the participants got close to a golden rice field. Something I was looking forward to!

To begin with, it was interesting for me to know that Golden Rice, called so because of the golden colour of its grains. was developed by two European Professors – Prof. Ingo Potrykus from the Institute for Plant Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology along with Professor Peter Beyer of the University of Freiburg, Germany – and was eventually donated to resource-poor farmers in developing countries! From here, the Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) led the development and deployment of Golden Rice in the Philippines in association with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) located in Los Baños, Laguna, the Philippines. Primarily, Golden Rice can help manage Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in millions of people especially children, across the world.  

Also, I was eager to know if Golden Rice is as safe and healthy as our conventional rice. Since it’s a GM (Genetically Modified), some apprehensions have been made by many countries not accepting the technology yet! But we learned that Golden Rice has already undergone multiple stringent tests. And when you learn that Golden Rice went through food safety evaluations from Food Standards Australia, New Zealand, Health Canada, and the US Food and Drug Administration in 2018 before it passed its biosafety assessment in the Philippines, it did give us some safe food for thought!

I also learned that the Golden Rice was developed using genetic modification, with genes from corn and a common soil microorganism that when combined produce beta carotene in the grain, which is believed to be quite similar to various green leafy veggies, orange fruits, and even in supplements, to name a few. “A cup of Golden Rice may provide up to 30-50% of the Vitamin A needs of preschool age children and pregnant or lactating mothers,” says research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“One such GE crop that has been approved for commercialization is Golden Rice. This is just to show the importance of biotechnology as a viable tool for food security, resiliency, and sustainability” shares Dr. Roel Suralta, Center Director of DA-Crop Biotechnology Center (DA-CBC), built to develop various plant products to help ensure food security and enhance the productivity of various crops to feed the growing population.

Deep down, concerns about the pricing were there too! But I found it’s expected to cost and taste almost equivalent. But the question remains – Why do we need Golden Rice, in the first place? It’s a known fact that many in the developing world do not get sufficient Vitamin A or beta carotene, which leads to various health problems, especially in children and women. No wonder even the eyesight of many of our kids isn’t as healthy as it used to be! According to WHO, Vitamin A deficiency bothers millions of people worldwide, most of whom are preschool children and pregnant women. With rice being the staple food, Golden Rice is believed to meet the right nutritional needs. So, to help people get good enough Vitamin A, Golden Rice was considered to be introduced in the Philippines which started the whole world talking about this variety of rice!

After such an insight into this newer variety of rice, we moved further. It was our time to visit the Commercial Biotech Corn Farm, led by Syngenta, followed by another interesting visit to Corteva Seed Processing Plant in Tarlac city. At last, on Oct 14, we attended a session on Plant Breeding Innovations: Applications, Global Trends and Philippine Policy’ by Scientist, DA-PhilRice, Dr. Reynate L. Ordonio. Like all good things come to an end, this tour did too!

For someone like me who’s been covering the length and breadth of one of the world’s largest agricultural nations, the visit was worthwhile. Surely, it was an eye-opener too! There’s so much that can be done in agriculture, provided our farming community stays informed and updated with the latest tech info and agricultural practices that the world is undertaking.

But a few questions remain unanswered - Is there any ‘Gold’ in Golden Rice for our farming community? Will it benefit our farmers in amplifying their incomes? Is it a step forward or...? That all needs to be answered!

(The writer is the Editor-in-Chief of Krishi Jagran and Agriculture World.)