Jill Farrant

Jill Farrant (born 5 December, 1960 in Modimolle), professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Quotes In terms of what I want to do, Africa, Africa, Africa. We are a continent that’s reliant on rain for our crops: we are already a poor continent so we cannot put in a lot of irrigation. It is also the continent where there is the greatest predicted food shortage compared to the population growth. The United Nations has projected the African population to double to 2.4 billion by 2050, while global warming is likely to worsen droughts and reduce crop yields. But apart from all of that, it is my passion to do this for Africa. No, definitely not. It can be a solution for only a small amount of crops that are going to help with food security. People are thinking about aeroponics, hydroponics, eating insects, eating all sorts of other foods. Resurrection crops is one solution of many – but I think it is a very important one. Without trying to be rude, they are very ignorant about the subject. Genetic modification of plants is probably the safest kind of GM, yet it is the most vilified one. The crops that we are eating [today] are highly genetically modified. Through conventional breeding, thousands of gene changes happened without us knowing that we were doing GM all along. Jill Farrant on on breeding drought-resistant crops I want to cater to the subsistence farmer, the person who wants to make enough food to live Farmers are becoming more and more dispirited, and droughts are killing them. We should make agriculture part of the solution to our issues… the climate change problem is so huge everything should be on the table Jill Farrant on Resurrection plants offering hope as climate turns hostile External links Category:Biologists from South Africa Category:Living people Category:1960 births Category:Women academics from South Africa Category:Women scientists from South Africa Category:Educators from South Africa Category:Women born in the 1960s