Joachim von Braun
Director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington.
M.S. Swaminathan
Holds the UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, India. A plant geneticist by training with a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, Prof. Swaminathan's contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India have led to his being widely referred to as the scientific leader of the Green Revolution movement. His advocacy of sustainable agriculture makes him an acknowledged world leader in the field of sustainable food security. He was Chairman of the UN Science Advisory Committee set up in 1980 to take follow-up action on the Vienna Plan of Action. He has also served as Independent Chairman of the FAO Council and President of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
Hans Eenhoorn
Associate professor Food Security and Entrepreneurship at Wageningen University.
Hans R. Herren
President of the Millennium Institute in Washington.
M.S. Swaminathan
UNESCO Chairman in Ecotechnology at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, India and Chairman of the National Commission on Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security of India
Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan says the most important problem in the field of food is the rising cost of food.
Food prices go up due to the rise of biofuels and the increasing competition between fuel and food. The second important problem is climate change. Energy costs have gone up and as a result farmers are attracted to the production of biofuels. They use land not for food production but for fuel crops production. All this leads to issues on food security. We should only use cellulosic material for the production of biofuels.
Biotechnology can offer new ways to address climate change. Drought tolerance can be built into crops, for instance rice, by transferring genes. Salt tolerance is also very important.
There is less and less dialogue and there are more and more opinions. We do not require confrontation, but consensus. We all want food for all and forever, but how do we achieve it? We must blend the tools of traditional wisdom and modern science, this will lead to an era of biohappiness.