For example, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ethiopia and DuPont to boost maize harvests through increased use of hybrid maize seed, improved seed distribution, and post-harvest storage.

FORBES: Mining and International Development: Partner or Pariah?

Souped-up hybrid crops, such as maize, bred through conventional techniques rather than high-tech genetic engineering, do not keep their desired properties from one generation to the next because of natural genetic shuffling.

ECONOMIST: Terminator genes

Zeneca's switch-hitting maize plants are now being tested to see how useful they are for hybrid-seed production.

ECONOMIST: Terminator genes