Archive for May 2019

Farmer groups in Ghana are asking the government to speed up the process of commercializing genetically modified (GM) crops as an alternative to pesticide use. They want Ghana’s Parliament and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to “heed the cry of farmers concerning difficulties we face with pest and diseases, and push for the availability…

Nigeria approved two genetically modified varieties of cotton for use by the nation’s farmers to help boost supply to its textile industry and cut lint imports of as much as 115 billion naira ($319 million) a year, officials said. The strains were modified by the Institute of Agricultural Research at the Ahmadu Bello University in…

Kenya is reconsidering its 2012 import ban on genetically modified maize as more than 1 million of its citizens require urgent humanitarian food assistance due to prolonged drought. “In the next one or two months, we will have a decision about the future of that ban,’’ said Professor Hamadi Mboga, principal secretary in the country’s ministry of agriculture, which oversees agricultural…