The population of world today stands at 7.5 bn. Population in the world is currently (2017) growing at a rate of around 1.11% per year (down from 1.13% in 2016). The current average population change is estimated at around 80 million per year. With growth in population the scarcity of resources, urbanization is increasing with inverse relation to deterioration of cropland quality highlighting the problems of food security.

Food security thus has three dimensions :-

1. Availability of sufficient quantities of food of appropriate quality, supplied through domestic production or imports;
2. Access by households and individuals to appropriate foods for a nutritious diet; and
3. Optimal uptake of nourishment thanks to a sustaining diet, clean water and adequate sanitation, together with health care.

BIOTECHNOLOGY in food security:- Genetically-modified (GM) crops or any other breeding methods on their own cannot solve the challenges related to food quality, access to food, nutrition or stability of food systems. But their role cannot be dismissed

The benefits of genetic engineering in the fight for food security:

Expectations:-

• The spectrum of potential benefits from the application of genetic engineering and biotechnology to food crops in developing countries ranges from diagnostic aids, for example in plant diseases, through to gene mapping
• The main objective of research and development for food security is to find improved seed varieties, that enable reliable high yields at the same or lower tillage costs through qualities such as resistance to or tolerance of plant diseases (fungi, bacteria, viruses) and animal pests (insects, mites, nematodes) as well as to stress factors such as climatic variation or aridity, poor soil quality.
• Equally important objectives are the transfer of genes with nitrogen-fixing capacity on to grains, and the improvement of food quality by overcoming vitamin or mineral deficiencies

All these crucial and basic needed expectations can be satisfied with the use of biotechnology. The big edge that recombinant genetics has over conventional breeding is that the desired properties can be systematically sought, identified, extracted (‘snipped’) from a plant or almost any other organism, and within a relatively short time transferred (‘spliced’) to another plant. The result is the same as that achieved with conventional methods, but without the costly and time-consuming cross-breeding they involve.

Food without biotechnological improvements is highly susceptible to wastage:-

• Fungal diseases destroy 50 million metric tons of rice per year; varieties resistant to fungi could be developed through the genetic transfer of proteins with antifungal properties.
• Insects cause 26 million tons loss of rice per year;
  the genetic transfer of proteins with insecticidal properties would mean an environmentally friendly insect control.
• Viral diseases devastate 10 million tons of rice per year; transgenes derived from theTungro virus genome allow the plant to develop defense systems.
• Bacterial diseases cause comparable losses–transgenes with antibacterial properties are the basis for inbuilt resistance.
• Vitamin A deficiency is the cause of health problems for more than 100 million children – transgenes will provide provitamin A with the rice diet
• Iron-deficiency in the diet is a health problem for more than one billion women and children – transgenes will supply sufficient iron in the diet.
• Which is staple food for 500 mn people.The African Mosaic Virus causes immense damages in cassava; transgenes interfering with the life cycle of the virus could lead to virus-resistant varieties.
• Food Processing – The self life of the food materials can be extended so as to reduce wastage and increased security during crisis. 
• Gene technology has the capability to provide growers with a greater diversity of hardy plant varieties by transposing properties from one species to another – a further advantage it has over conventional methods.

 Concerns –

• Environment – GM crops can become invasive species and destroy the gene pool of crops.
• Resistant Pest – The pests become eventually resistant to these crops and might threaten food security.
• High Cost – of seeds which are sterile will put small farmers into debt.
• Super Weeds – which become resistant to all weedicides and suck nutrients from soil turning soil infertile for crops.

Conclusion:-

The developing countries are faced with the formidable task of doubling their food output over the next 25 years, and this – in contrast to how it has so often been done in the industrial countries – in ways sparing of the environment and resources. Population pressure has already begun to affect the environment in large parts of the developing world. Because of intensive land use and widespread biomass shortage, cultivated soils are being depleted of essential nutrients and organic matter. Fisheries, livestock and forestry resources are also under increasing strain. There is still time – and there is the knowledge as well as financial resources – to reverse the social and ecological trends that threaten food security in the developing world. Biotechnology is the one of the important way out for this.