Global Modern Biotechnology Adoption Trend

South Africa is the first African country to commercialize GM crops. The three crops commercially cultivated in South Africa are Bt maize, Roundup Ready soybean and Bt cotton. Of these, Bt cotton was the first GM crop to be commercially cultivated. Of the estimated total 13,000 hectares of conventional and GM cotton planted in 2008, 92 percent was GM cotton. Eighty-three 83 percent of the GM variety had the Bt/herbicide tolerant stacked traits, 9 percent herbicide-tolerant trait only and 8 percent the Bt trait only. A new variety with hairy leaves has been introduced along with the Bt trait to protect against non-target sucking insect pests that are not controlled by the Bt toxin alone (Karembu et al., 2009).

Studies have reported farm-level benefits that have translated into increased adoption rates. Yield gains exceeding 40 percent have been reported to in comparison with conventional cotton in addition to reduced spraying costs by 42 percent, reduced number of pesticide sprayings from 10 to 4 sprays per season, reduced production costs resulting in higher gross margins ranging from US$ 70–130 /2 ha of cotton (Ismael et al 2002; Morse et al., 2005; AfricaBio, 2007).

From an initial 197,000 hectares in 2001, the area planted to GM crops increased to 1.6 million hectares in 2007 and 1.8 million hectares in 2008. Of the three GM crops grown, Bt maize is the leading crop in terms of hectarage under cultivation with a share of 89 percent of all GM crops. In addition, Bt maize occupies 62 percent of all land cultivated to Maize, be it conventional or GM. The net benefits from biotech maize was estimated at US$227 million in 2007 while the accumulated benefits from 1998 to 2007 was US$383 million (Brookes and Barfoot, 2009).

A study by Gouse et al. (2005) on Bt maize involving 368 small-scale and resource-poor farmers compared to 33 commercial farmers was quite revealing. The commercial farmers were grouped into two, those cultivating under irrigation and those under rain-fed production systems. Higher yields were observed for farmers who cultivated under irrigation systems. This group obtained 12.1 MT /ha, an 11 percent increase over the previous year’s yield. These farmers also obtained cost savings in insecticide use of US$18/ha representing a 60 percent reduction and an increased income of US$117/ha. Farmers who grew Bt maize under rain-fed conditions obtained 3.4 MT/ha, also an 11 percent yield gain over the previous year’s yield. Cost savings on insecticide use for this group was US$7/ha representing a 60 percent reduction and the combined effect was an increase in income of US$35/ha.

The smallholder Bt maize farmers group was compared to others who grew conventional hybrid and open pollinated maize varieties in terms of yield per hectare (Gouse et al., 2005). Bt maize recorded yield gains of 31 percent and 134 percent over conventional hybrids and open-pollinated varieties respectively. Another study that used longitudinal study over 9-year period (2000 to 2008) reported that small-scale Bt maize farmers in South Africa gained an additional US$ 267 million (Goose and Van der Walt, 2008).

In 2008, of the 230,000 hectares planted to soybean in South Africa, 184,000 hectares, representing 80 percent was herbicide tolerant soybean. This was achieved after eight years of commercialization. The impressive adopter rate has been attributed to cost savings from reduced insecticide use and facile crop management.

Cotton is the principal cash crop in Burkina Faso generating over US$ 300 million in annual revenues representing about 60 percent of the country’s export earnings (ICAC, 2006). Despite this contribution, the agricultural sector in the country is beset by a number of challenges including low yields, drought, poor soil, insect pests and lack of infrastructure and inadequate credit. Though approximately 475,000 hectares of conventional cotton was planted in 2008, the crop continues to record low average yields of 367 kg per hectare. Studies have also reported crop losses in excess of 30 percent due to insect-pests of cotton (Goze et al., 2003; Vaissayre and Cauquil, 2000).

At the national level, the annual cost for insecticides for the control of cotton bollworms and related insect-pests is around US$ 60 million per year (Toe, 2003 cited in Karembou, 2009). However, insecticides are proving ineffective, with losses due to bollworm as high as 40 percent even with full application of insecticides (Traoré et al., 2006). As a result of these challenges, Burkina Faso’s cotton production decreased to 0.68 million bales in 2007/08 from 1.3 million bales in 2006/07.

After 5 years of conducting confined fields trials, approval was granted for the commercial cultivation of Bt cotton. Vitale et al., (2008) estimate that cultivation of Bt cotton would result in yield increases of 20 percent and a decreased need for insecticides that would generate US$ 106 million per year for Burkina Faso. In 2008, Burkina Faso for the first time planted approximately 8,500 hectares of Bt cotton for seed production and initial commercialization, becoming the 10th country globally to grow commercial Bt cotton. This was after some 4,500 farmers successfully produced 1,600 tonnes of Bt cotton seed on a total of 6,800 farmer fields. In 2009, area under Bt cotton significantly rose to approximately 115,000 hectares representing 29% of total cotton area in Burkina Faso.

Only 3 percent of the land area (about 2.5 million hectares) in Egypt is devoted to agriculture. Maize is an important crop in Egypt and is planted on approximately 728,000 hectares. Egypt imports about half of its food to augment domestic production. Egypt annually produces about 6.1 million tons of maize while importing 4.5 million tons of yellow maize annually to meet domestic demands. About 90 percent of land put under maize is white maize with the rest planted to yellow maize. In 2008, the Bt yellow maize hybrid was commercially approved after five years of confined field trials. Results from the field trials indicate up to 30 percent yield increment over conventional yellow hybrid maize (Karembu, 2009).

In 2008, Egypt commercialized hybrid Bt yellow maize by planting 700 hectares. Egypt thus became the first country in North Africa and the Arab world to commercialize GM crops. In 2009, Egypt planted approximately 1,000 hectares of Bt maize, a modest increase and the result of the inability to secure import licenses for seed. Hence, only 28 tons of locally produced seed were available to plant the 1,000 hectares.