Failure to use biotechnology hurting farmers, says report

A farm worker in a maize plantation at Wambugu farm in Nyeri on May 19, 2014. Maize yields are bound to increase if the farmers embrace the use of biotechnological technology. PHOTO| JOSEPH KANYI 

Summary

• Only three out of the 28 countries that grew biotech crops in 2015 were from Africa.
• Between 1996 and 2015, biotech maize was successfully grown globally in 15 countries on 600 million hectares, bringing to the farmers an estimated USD50 billion in revenues.
• Climate change effects call for urgent measures to accelerate access to drought tolerant crops such as Water Efficient Maize for Africa.

Agricultural produce and yields bound to improve if farmers use new and improved biotechnological tools.Farmers are missing out on opportunities to integrate proven cutting edge biotechnology tools that would boost yields and mitigate the impact of climate change, a new report says.

According to the report released by the International Services for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) on the global status of commercialised biotech crops, only three out of the 28 countries that grew biotech crops in 2015 were from Africa.