Sir

Your Editorial 'Deserting the hungry?' (Nature 451, 223–224; doi:10.1038/451223b 2008) discusses CropLife's decision to withdraw from the World Bank-led International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). As president of CropLife, I wish to confirm that the decision was not taken lightly, given our commitment to agriculture, development and sustainability.

We have been actively involved in the assessment since its inception and we remain committed to its original aims. These were to reduce hunger and poverty, to improve rural livelihoods and to facilitate equitable, environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development through generation, access to and use of agricultural knowledge, science and technology.

Unfortunately, we do not believe that the current draft assessment adequately reflects the role that modern science and technology, and in particular our own industry's technologies, have played in supporting agriculture. In our view, the IAASTD's treatment of biotechnology, crop-protection chemistry, the importance of intellectual property and the role of the private sector has been superficial and negative. Also missing is a vision of science and technology's future contribution to all types of agriculture.

The Editorial focuses on biotechnology, one technology among many that will enable farmers to select the right tool at the right time. We agree that there is no single solution, which means that a range of technologies, modern and traditional, need to be available and that valid, real-world solutions should not be ignored.

We support initiatives to help the rural poor and hungry by providing balanced information about the most appropriate technologies available to improve crop quality and protect the environment. We encourage your readers to look at other reports, such as the 2008 World Development Report from the World Bank (http://tinyurl.com/6h8bz4) or the Food and Agriculture Organization's 2004 State of Food and Agriculture Report (http://tinyurl.com/63kr62). Both of these highlight the importance of technology in achieving a productivity revolution, particularly for smallholder farming.

CropLife remains an open and engaged partner with the World Bank and all stakeholders — including governments, international institutions and civil society — to ensure that the original commitments of the IAASTD are honoured.

As stated in the Editorial, we continue to be open-minded about the IAASTD, and we hope that the final report will have corrected the inadequacies of earlier drafts. But it would be counterproductive for us to endorse the current draft.