The United Nations Development Programme says that many developing countries may reap great benefits from genetically modified foodstuffs, that the technology can significantly reduce the malnutrition which affects 800m people, and that it will be especially valuable to poor farmers working marginal land in sub-Saharan Africa. The report is one of the agency's most provocative, and grassroots groups, development charities and environmentalists in more than 50 countries described it as "simplistic", "pandering to the GM industry" and "failing to take into account the views of the poor".