South Africa Big On Biotech

Avatar for Matt Hopkins By Scott C. Lucas|9 October 2006

According to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Application (ISAAA), South Africa’s acreage of GM crops rose to 500,000 hectares in 2005, placing the country third among the top 15 worldwide growers of biotech varieties. The plantings for 2006 are expected to be between 700,000 and 1 million hectares.

The industry was also quick to adopt new genetically modified (GM) cotton seed with stacked traits of insect resistance and herbicide tolerance that were approved in September 2005. Stacked varieties made up 40% of cotton planted last year, while varieties with only insect resistance constituted 39%, and those with herbicide tolerance 13%.