In June 2026, the Biotech Africa Database was launched, providing country-specific information on biotech crop approval decisions and regulatory requirements for import, export, and transit.
Before the launch of the portal, this data had been “scattered across multiple agency websites, gazette notices, and regulatory documents”, which made access and interpretation difficult and created “delays, compliance risks, and uncertainty for traders, regulators, and value-chain actors operating across borders.”
At the launch in June 2026, six biotech crops, including cassava, cotton, cowpea, maize, potato, and soybean, had been approved for cultivation in 10 countries, namely Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Sudan.
Africa has 3.98-million hectares of biotech crops. It’s roughly 2% of the global biotech crop hectarage.
A month later, a new United Nations report published in July 2026 found that Africa had overtaken Asia for the first time as the region with the highest number of people facing hunger, at around 309-million people, with two-thirds unable to afford a healthy diet.
