 In a small rural village in Tanzania, Joyce Sandier spends most of her time tending to her crops. For many years, her and the seven out of ten farmers in sub-Saharan Africa have relied on growing a narrow variety of crops. As a result, malnutrition runs rampant across a continent of farmers. In 2012, life changed for Joyce when she started growing maize seed bred to tolerate drought. When drought came, most of her crops withered and died, but her new maize was more productive than ever. That seed made the difference between hunger and prosperity. To get agricultural productivity up, you want many factors working in your favor. You want better seeds. You want farmers to adopt the best seeds. The farmers have got to be a lot more educated because they can often grow two crops in a season, and the way they deal with soil health by rotating the crops can make a big difference. They also need a credit system because if they don't have the money to get fertilizer, that alone will cut their productivity very substantially. And so that farmer education system, the R&D to make those better seeds, by managing those things well, we predict that we'll get African productivity up 1.5 times where it is today, and that will get Africa to the point where even with its population growth, somewhat worse weather, instead of importing food, it will be able to feed itself. Improvements in critical infrastructure will further Africa's ability to feed itself. Investments in road improvements will allow food to move to places it needs to go and reduce the need for expensive air transport. Additional surpluses will be put away and improved storage to better position them for lean years. Well, GMOs are very well accepted in some countries like the United States and not as well accepted in Europe. The African countries will have a choice of whether to use those tools. The example I gave of a woman using a drought-resistant seed, that was actually done with conventional breeding. And there is quite a bit of improvement still available with conventional breeding, but in this timeframe, the GMO-derived seeds will provide far better productivity, better drought tolerance, salinity tolerance, and if the safety is proven, then the African countries will be among the biggest beneficiaries. So I think most of Africa will see this as a way to improve their productivity, but it's a sovereign decision. No one makes that for them. Fifteen years from now, stories like Joyce's will become all the more common as improvements in agriculture drive down poverty and improve life across the continent.
 In a small rural village in Tanzania, Joyce Sandier spends most of her time tending to her crops.
 For many years, her and the seven out of ten farmers in sub-Saharan Africa have relied on growing a narrow variety of crops.
 As a result, malnutrition runs rampant across a continent of farmers.
 In 2012, life changed for Joyce when she started growing maize seed bred to tolerate drought.
 When drought came, most of her crops withered and died, but her new maize was more productive than ever.
 That seed made the difference between hunger and prosperity.
 To get agricultural productivity up, you want many factors working in your favor.
 You want better seeds. You want farmers to adopt the best seeds.
 The farmers have got to be a lot more educated because they can often grow two crops in a season,
 and the way they deal with soil health by rotating the crops can make a big difference.
 They also need a credit system because if they don't have the money to get fertilizer,
 that alone will cut their productivity very substantially.
 And so that farmer education system, the R&D to make those better seeds,
 by managing those things well, we predict that we'll get African productivity up 1.5 times where it is today,
 and that will get Africa to the point where even with its population growth, somewhat worse weather,
 instead of importing food, it will be able to feed itself.
 Improvements in critical infrastructure will further Africa's ability to feed itself.
 Investments in road improvements will allow food to move to places it needs to go
 and reduce the need for expensive air transport.
 Additional surpluses will be put away and improved storage to better position them for lean years.
 Well, GMOs are very well accepted in some countries like the United States and not as well accepted in Europe.
 The African countries will have a choice of whether to use those tools.
 The example I gave of a woman using a drought-resistant seed, that was actually done with conventional breeding.
 And there is quite a bit of improvement still available with conventional breeding,
 but in this timeframe, the GMO-derived seeds will provide far better productivity, better drought tolerance, salinity tolerance,
 and if the safety is proven, then the African countries will be among the biggest beneficiaries.
 So I think most of Africa will see this as a way to improve their productivity, but it's a sovereign decision.
 No one makes that for them.
 Fifteen years from now, stories like Joyce's will become all the more common
 as improvements in agriculture drive down poverty and improve life across the continent.