Genetic improvement can generate more nutritious food and avoid waste

Technique allows you to obtain benefits such as more resistant vegetables and tastier fruits

20.05.2021 | 20:59 (UTC -3)
Amanda Silva

Each year, 26,3 million tons of food are thrown away in Brazil, enough to distribute 131,5 kg to each Brazilian in the same period, according to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). ). Among the possible solutions to help minimize this problem, one can be adopted before the food even leaves the field: genetic improvement.

Vegetable, fruit and vegetable producers face many challenges when managing their crops. Genetic improvement is one of the solutions that allows us to overcome some of them, both inside the field, providing greater resistance to certain fungi and bacteria, and outside it, through thicker skins that better withstand transportation to the supermarket, thus prolonging the shelf life of the food. The method consists of selecting plants with desirable agronomic characteristics through crossing organisms of the same species.

"With this technique we are able to select desirable characteristics for the producer and consumer, such as, for example, making a fruit or vegetable better adapted to a certain region", explains the, Marketing Leader for Seminis in South America , Marcelo Tavares.

An example of a benefit obtained through genetic improvement is the resistance to the leafminer in Galia melons, which are widely exported to Europe. There is a pressure of leafminer infestation in the producing region that made production and, consequently, the export of food unfeasible. "Through genetic improvement, we were able to develop plants resistant to this fly, ensuring more vigor in the leaves and enabling producers to produce throughout the entire production window", adds Tavares.

With genetic improvement it is also possible to confer organoleptic characteristics, that is, those related to the senses (such as taste, vision or touch). Some examples are the possibility of improving the flavor of food (making a watermelon redder and sweeter, or a cocktail-type tomato tastier, for example), and making it more nutritious (as in the case of orange carrots that have larger beta-carotene levels).

In the case of watermelons, there are seedless or extra-firm oval-shaped varieties, which have allowed processing industries the possibility of adding them to ready-to-eat fruit salads (sold in supermarkets) without producing water and spoiling the other fruits in the jar. .

Food waste remains a challenge

Globally, according to FAO estimates, approximately 1,3 billion tons of food produced annually are wasted or lost - around a third of global production, an amount sufficient to feed two billion people per year.

Waste is one of the main obstacles to achieving complete food security - which is becoming increasingly worse. Around 59,3% of Brazilians (125,6 million people) began to suffer food insecurity in the last year due to the impacts of the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, according to research coordinated by the Food for Justice Research Group.

Genetic improvement is just one of the possible processes to reduce food loss. There are many other possibilities, such as the application of different modern biotechnology techniques in agriculture and the development of more innovative and collaborative solutions - Bayer itself has been working on this front recently with the Food Loss Challenge. The call launched in partnership with Food Tech Hub Br has open for subscriptions until August 5th and seeks to select startups that have solutions to reduce food loss in the different phases of the agricultural chain.

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