Africa: Expert Gives Insights on GMO Potential, Adoption in Africa

Africa is grappling with food insecurity, climate change shocks as well as pests and diseases, which limit farm productivity on the continent. As of 2022, 282 million people in Africa were undernourished -- up from 278 million people in 2021 -- while 30 per cent of the continent's children were stunted, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization .

Within East Africa, there is very good progress in Kenya where they have commercialised Bt cotton, they are about to commercialise cassava and maize. But very soon, also in West Africa, there is going to be commercialisation of cowpea in Ghana and in Burkina Faso.Overall, when you look at the challenges of the agriculture sector that Africa is facing, African governments are deciding to also include biotechnology as a tool to fight those challenges.

Lastly, at the macroeconomic level, one of the things that have been acknowledged is that 60 per cent of the food that we eat in Africa is imported, and the reason why we are importing that food is that we do not produce enough to meet the demand that is there. This is because the GMO cotton variety is pest-resistant, uses fewer pesticides, and increases the yield for farmers.

Now, imagine a farmer who has lost everything and a farmer who is able to harvest up to 90 per cent of what he can get. The long-term or strategic response is this; the reason why those technologies are expensive in terms of seeds and everything else is because somebody else developed them and they have to gain from it. And this is why we are encouraging African governments to be able to develop their own technologies.There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

Source: Energy Industry News (energyindustrynews.net)

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