Prof. Dr. Matin Qaim

Research Priorities: Global food security, sustainable agriculture, sustainable food systems, poverty, rural development
Matin Qaim is a German agricultural economist. The main focus of his research concerns global food security and sustainable agriculture in the context of scarce natural resources. He focuses in particular on the small farm sector in low- and middle-income countries, where he studies the interplay between agriculture, food, and poverty.
Matin Qaim has done groundbreaking work on the economic, social, and ecological effects of genetically modified plants and other new agricultural technologies. He also studies the effects of globalisation in the agriculture and food sector on poor households in urban and rural areas, with a special focus on undernutrition, overnutrition, and nutrition-related diseases. He argues that the use of high-yield plants – including those that have been genetically modified – can help reduce both the amount of land used and greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture. As a member of the Golden Rice Humanitarian Board, he also advocates the use of genetically modified plants such as Golden Rice, which has a higher beta-carotene content than conventional rice, and as a source of vitamin A can help tackle disease.
As part of large-scale interdisciplinary joint projects, Matin Qaim researches the driving forces and effects of rapid changes in land use in tropical and subtropical regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The aim is to develop policy recommendations for more sustainable land use. He points out, for example, that current meat prices do not reflect the high cost to the environment, and calls for a significant reduction on the use of animal products in rich countries, which have high per capita consumption.