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BT CORN TRIAL IN ETHIOPIA CONTROLS ARMY FALL WORMS, NATION MAY APPROVE ITS USE
Mar. 5, 2019
Agri-Pulse reports:
Biotech crops are establishing a toe hold in Africa's two largest countries, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service reports that Ethiopia's first Bt corn trial has gone well, and that genetically engineered cotton is ready for commercial production.
The biotech corn was planted last fall and proved resistant to a local infestation of fall armyworm, a moth larva that is quickly becoming a major pest across Africa. They're easily controlled in the U.S. with Bt crops. But in Africa, experts say smallholder farmers often resort to dousing their crops with highly toxic insecticides.
Nigeria recently approved the production of insect-resistant cowpeas, known to Americans as black-eyed peas. They're a staple crop in sub-Saharan Africa.
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