[Editor’s note: Katherine Chaweza is a 2016 Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellow and the communication and outreach coordinator for the Programme for Biosafety Systems in Malawi.]
Bolstered by a solid and functional biosafety framework, Malawi is one of the few countries in Africa poised to move forward in commercializing genetically modified crops, with cotton, cowpea and banana now in field trials.
…
The Bt cotton trials have made significant progress. After three years of successful CFTs … an application for environmental release was made … and approval was granted in April 2016. … After three years of the trials, Bt cotton will be commercialized.
Farmers are already asking for the seed, but are being made to understand that there has to be a process for the seed to be released to them. However, their hopes are high after being told that if all goes according to plan, the seed will be released in the next three years.
Share this article
…
The progress made with these three trials positions Malawi as one of the few countries in Africa moving towards the commercialization of GM crops, and it’s all thanks to the political will of the Government of Malawi and the county’s workable biosafety framework.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Malawi progresses in GM crop trials
For more background on the Genetic Literacy Project, read GLP on Wikipedia
