Africa will have a projected cereal crop shortfall of 88.7 million tons by 2025, but the population will have doubled to 1.5 billion in the same period, a University of Cape Town biotechnologist has warned.

This was why biotechnical solutions involving genetic engineering to produce more and better crops were a vital part of efforts to achieve food security for Africa, Professor Iqbal Parker told parliament's agriculture committee yesterday.

Parker, research director in UCT's health sciences faculty and professor of medical biochemistry, said he was not a lobbyist for GMOs (genetically modified organisms). But he believed there were very tight controls in place in South Africa relating to genetic engineering, and the country had to be "logical and sensible" because many biotechnological advances were being made.

But the ANC's Tshepiso Ramphele expressed several concerns about GMOs.

He said MPs had an obligation not to take decisions that were detrimental to South Africa, and there were reports that some countries allowing the production of genetically modified crops had suffered declines in agricultural exports because of opposition from importing countries.

There was also the problem of "bio-pollution" whereby farmers producing natural or organic crops such as red maize had their crops polluted by genetically engineered maize on neighbouring farms.

Ramphele also questioned whether South Africa was able to make informed assessments about GMO crops.

Parker said "first-generation" biotechnology had been available for 15 years for many uses, including insulin production from pig pancreases and for cheese and beer production, "(but) many people get scared of biotechnology when they hear of it".

However, there had been dramatic advances and there was now "third generation biotechnology" such as genetic modification which did not require the use of any animal sources.

There was also a very tightly controlled process to ensure that genetically modified bacteria - such as those used in producing insulin which also involved some human genetic material - could not survive outside the laboratory.

South Africa had biotechnology policy and legislation in place and ethical issues were being addressed, he said.