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Currently, hunger affects nearly 12 per cent of the world’s population — 4 per cent more than in 2015, when the United Nations launched the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. If all scientific knowledge and technological innovation in crop development were readily available and globally adopted, could zero hunger have been achieved by 2030? Most people recognize the potential for agricultural biotechnology to contribute to food security. However, there has been limited application and adoption of new crop varieties in countries that are disproportionately affected by malnutrition and food insecurity.
Forty years ago, Barbara McClintock — an exceptional plant scientist — was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine; only the third woman to win a Nobel prize without collaborators.