The Scotsman

Genetically modified crops could be the breakthrough needed to lift millions of the world’s poor out of poverty, according to the United Nations.

But a UN human development report said a radical rethink of global development policy and attitudes to new technologies was needed if poor countries were to develop.

Currently, around 30,000 children under five die every day and 1.2 billion people worldwide live on less than 70p a day, the report said.

And unless action is taken soon, most countries will miss their targets for reducing infant mortality and income poverty by 2015.

The UN called for more international funding for research into GM varieties of staple crops such as millet, sorghum and cassava, and for treatments for HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.

GM crops could raise income for poor farmers and cut malnutrition in the developing world, which currently affects 800 million people, the report said.

But the UN stressed that such potential benefits of GM crops must not be overshadowed by fears in the west over possible risks to health and the environment.

Mark Malloch Brown, the UN development programme administrator, said: "These varieties have 50 per cent higher yields, mature 30 to 50 days earlier, are substantially richer in protein, are far more disease and drought tolerant, resist insect pests and can even out-compete weeds.

"And they will be especially useful because they can be grown without fertiliser or herbicides, which many poor farmers can’t afford anyway.

"This initiative shows the enormous potential of biotech to improve food security in Africa, Asia and Latin America."

Intellectual property rights can go too far and lead to "the silent theft of centuries of developing country knowledge and assets" - as with the US patent on the Mexican enola bean, the report said.

Intellectual property rights agreements must be made to work, so developing countries can have access to vital new drugs and information technology. New information and communications technology can help to overcome geographic and economic barriers, but the "brain drain" of skilled workers to the west is costing poorer countries billions of dollars a year.