GM crops and hunger

Sir, The Vatican has attempted to join the modern debate over the way our food is produced (report, August 4).

The stark truth is that genetic modification will not end world hunger, it will merely tighten the West’s stranglehold on the developing countries that produce cash crops such as coffee, cocoa and maize. Only 1 per cent of GM research is aimed at crops used by poor farmers in poor countries, and it can cost up to £200 million and 12 years to develop a GM crop. It seems obvious to me that GM crops are being developed as a means to create vast profits rather than to end world starvation and nutrition.

To end world hunger, poor countries need to end agricultural monocultures and farm sustainably to suit their needs, rather than the demands of free trade.