World agriculture faces enormous challenges in the coming decades. To feed the world adequately in
2050, agricultural production in developing economies will need to nearly double. Incremental production
will mainly come from increases in yields or cropping intensities. This paper focuses on the potential of
genetically modified (GM) crops to contribute to agricultural productivity growth and poverty reduction in
developing economies. Based on a comprehensive literature review, we aim to shed light on whether GM
crops benefit farmers and are able to address their current and future needs. The first part reviews farmlevel
impacts of GM crops in developing economies. The second part discusses the GM crop research
pipeline. GM crop markets are expected to grow in the future, but not to change dramatically. We
conclude that GM crops benefited farmers, including resource-poor farmers, in developing economies, but
benefits are location and individual-specific. Addressing such complexities will be required to unlock
technology potentials
