GM ‘lesser of two evils’: Olam

Sunny Verghese, Managing Director of Olam

Andrew Marshall
The Land

THE Singaporean boss of fast-growing global agricultural commodities trader, Olam International, says his company won’t buy genetically modified (GM) crops, but he thinks they are an inevitable “must” to feed a hungry planet.

“Our board of directors will not be involved in GMs, but I believe one way we can meet the food challenge is to adopt GMs as one of the solutions,” says Olam’s group managing director, Sunny Verghese.

Addressing the who’s who of Australian agribusiness at this year’s Rabobank Agribusiness Leadership dinner, Mr Verghese said China alone was increasing its food consumption demand by 20 per cent every year, yet for the past 15 years Chinese food crop production had been almost flat.

“In time we will see that GMs are the lesser of two evils and the world will embrace this technology to lift agricultural production rather than opt to go hungry,” he said.

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