Agricultural biotechnologies deployed around the world are transforming food systems to produce more nutritious food with less environmental impact, with positive impacts for smallholder farmers in low-income countries. Bt eggplant is one such transformative technology, and its success was recently highlighted in a new book from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The book “Case Studies of the Use of Agricultural Biotechnologies to Meet the Needs of Smallholders in Developing Countries” features 15 studies across a range of species, regions and production systems. Featured in the collection is the success of Bt eggplant, the first bioengineered food crop to be approved in South Asia.

The case study is co-authored by Maricelis Acevedo, research professor in the Department of Global Development and the School of Integrative Plant Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Acevedo serves as director of the Feed the Future Insect-Resistant Eggplant Partnership, a five-year project to enhance food and nutritional security in Bangladesh and the Philippines.

The full article appeared on Feed the Future Insect-Resistant Eggplant Partnership newsroom.