Transgenic Horticultural Crops on the African Continent - Transgenic Horticultural Crops: Challenges and Opportunities - page 148

and.HT.and.Bt.maize.in.2007. 2 .Three countries.are.still.a.small.number.of.coun-
tries.in.Africa.but.nevertheless.a.welcome.improvement.on.previous.years,.as.the.
spread. now.covers. all. regional.blocks.on.the.continent. that.could.result.in. viable.
synergies..For.the.irst.time,.each.block.has.a.regional.lead.country,.Egypt.to.the.
north,.Burkina.Faso.to.the.west,.and.South.Africa.to.the.east.and.south..The.signing.
into.law.of.the.draft.Biosafety.bill.in.Kenya.in.January.2009.as.well.as.the.fact.that.
Kenya.already.has.a.number.of.GM.crops.in.the.pipeline.clearly.places.Kenya.in.the.
driving.seat.to.take.the.lead.in.the.east.
In. 2004,. the. International. Food. Policy. Research. Institute. (IFPRI). published. a.
study.on.the.development.of.transgenic.crop.varieties.in.Africa. 3 .The.study.showed.
that.there.were.37.events.being.developed.on.the.continent,.half.of.which.were.virus.
and.insect.resistance.and.the.rest.representing.agronomic.performance,.fungal.resis-
tance,. product. quality,. herbicide. tolerance,. and. bacterial. resistance. 4 . South. Africa.
had.the.widest.diversity.of.crops.under.study,.and.the.events.spanned.seven.traits..
Twenty-one.out.of.the.28.events.had.been.developed.independent.of.public.private.
partnerships.using.local.germplasm..Up.until.2007,.South.Africa.was.the.only.coun-
try. to. have. commercialized. GM. crops. on. the. continent. 5 . These. were. seven. in. all,.
maize. with. insect. resistance,. both. white. and. yellow,. HT. soybean,. insect. resistant.
cotton,.and.cotton.with.stacked.gene.traits,.made.up.of.insect.resistance.and herbi-
cide.tolerance..To.date,.both.Egypt.and.Burkina.Faso.have.commercialized.Bt.maize.
and.Bt.cotton,.respectively. 1
Globally,. the. transgenic. horticultural. crops. commercialized. to. date. include.
tomato,. sweet. corn,. potato,. squash,. papaya,. sweet. pepper,. and. biotech. carnation,.
with.the.United.States.and.China.leading.in.research.and.development.(R&D). 6 .In.
Africa,.while.having.a.wide.range.of.horticultural.crops.(vegetable,.fruits,.nuts,.and.
ornamentals),. there. are. a. few. transgenic. horticultural. crops. that. have. been. devel-
oped,. and. these. include. squash,. melon,. watermelon,. grapes,. apples,. potato,. sweet.
potato,.groundnut,.and.banana..These.crops.are.limited.to.four.countries.only:.South.
Africa,.Egypt,.Kenya,.and.Uganda.(Table.6.1).
Some.of.the.opportunities.for.developing.transgenic.horticultural.products.desired.
by.consumers.and.producers.include 7

•. Novel.genetic.methods.for.disease.and.insect.protection

•. Weed.control

•. Longer-lived.lowers

•. Slower-growing.grass

In.terms.of.transgenic.horticultural.crops,.the.limited.market.distribution.and.R&D.
efforts.are.not.unique.to.Africa..The.irst.transgenic.horticultural.crop,.Flavr.Savr,.
developed.to.have.an.extended.shelf.life,.and.another.version.with.higher.viscosity.
intended.for.easier.processing.was.commercialized.in.1994.in.the.United.States.but.
has. since. been. withdrawn.. Subsequently,. sweet. corn,. potato,. squash,. and. papaya.
varieties.made.to.resist.viruses.were.also.developed.but.failed.to.garner.a.signiicant.
market. share.. To. date,. only. the. virus-resistant. papaya. enjoys. a. signiicant. market.
share.with.70%.of.the.Hawaiian.crop.shipped.to.mainland.United.States.annually.
being.from.this.product. 7