Whether genetically modified foods can help eradicate food insecurity and poverty has been the subject of contentious and polarizing debate.

The backdrop to this debate is a global agricultural system that is facing increasing challenges from rising climatic variability, population growth, urbanization, and natural resource depletion. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, food production needs to increase by 60 percent by 2050 in order to feed 9 billion plus people. Scientists and policymakers alike are searching for innovative ways to ensure sufficient access to nutritious food, today and for generations to come. Unlike previous science-based initiatives to raise productivity in the agricultural sector (such as the Green Revolution), the potential of GM crops to combat food security and poverty challenges is muddled in hotly contested discussions.

The considerable expansion of GM crop varieties worldwide over the last two decades is indisputable. The total area devoted to GM crops has increased 100-fold from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to 170 million hectares in 2012. Developing countries now grow more GM crops than developed countries (in terms of area), largely driven by Brazil's recent fast-paced adoption of GM crops. China is home to approximately 4 percent of the total global area devoted to GM crops. Soybeans, maize, cotton, and canola dominate GM crops globally, whereas China's focus is on cotton, papaya, and poplar.