For example, in 2008 Kenyan farmers were hit very hard due to the financial crisis and post election violence (Anon, 2010). The number of people who wanted horticultural products fell dramatically and the total number …show more content…
Opportunities in fruit production have been extended by the ability to create new genotypes using Biotechnology. Genetic Engineering has made it possible to create crops and other foods that have desired characteristics, for example Golden Rice is a variety of transformed rice (al, 2012). This genetically engineered form of rice was made by the combining together one gene from a maize plant and one gene from a bacteria that thrives in soil. These two genes enable the rice to produce beta-carotene. Golden Rice is being developed because in some countries such as Asia, there is shortage of dietary Vitamin A so this is one way in which people can get some Vitamin A into their diet. (al, 2012). Up to 500,000 children per year worldwide go blind due to Vitamin A deficiency (al, 2012). Agricultural crops are also being produced which help to reduce the risk of famine and malnutrition, such as drought-resistant crops for drought-prone areas (al, 2012). Transformed crops can be used to produce useful medicines and painkillers, which could make drugs available to more people (al, 2012). However, the European Union basically bans all genetically engineered products, creating a challenge for …show more content…
A team of researchers at the University of Florida 's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences have made a huge step forward in the genetic engineering of flowers by discovering the genes which control scent and flower colour in plants. They did this by manipulating a flower 's aromatic compounds to produce desired fragrances (al, 2007). Flower colour is mainly determined by anthocyanins (al, 2007). For example, Rosa Hybrida doesn 't have many violet-blue anthocyanins due to the absence of delphinidin-based anthocyanins (al, 2007). This is because they do not possess the flavinoid 3 '5 '-hydroxylase (al, 2007). A blue rose was created by the Japanese company, Suntory, and its Australian subsidary, Florigene (anon, n.d). They managed to create a blue colour was achieved by inserting a delphinidin-producing gene from a pansy into an Old Garden Rose, allowing them to create colours which people want (anon,