Browse Data and Analysis

This is a regional report on West Africa that primarily covers Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Mali, but also provides brief overviews in certain sections for Niger, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Mauritania.

Bolivia announced on October 19 the approval of Intacta, a new biotech soybean variety with insect resistant Bt and glyphosate resistant traits. Intense drought and more unpredictable weather are disrupting Bolivian farmer livelihoods and they see the Intacta approval as one helpful step towards improved crop productivity and environmental resilience.

Zambia’s production of its staple crop, corn, is expected to drop by more than 50 percent in marketing year 2024/25, due to extended dry spells associated with the El Niño event. Almost a million hectares of corn have been destroyed by the drought that forced the Zambian President to declare a “National Disaster and Emergency”.

Zambia’s production of its staple crop, corn, is expected to grow by 23 percent to 3.3 million metric tons (MMT) in marketing year (MY) 2023/24, mainly due to an upsurge in planted area.

Despite lower production in marketing year (MY) 2022/23, Zambia’s production of its staple crop, corn, will be sufficient to meet domestic demand. Zambia’s corn crop is forecast to decline by 25 percent to 2.7 million metric tons (MMT) in MY 2022/23, after producing a record crop 3.6 MMT in MY 2021/22.

In September 2021, the Government of Niger signed the ministerial decree that defines the composition, organization, and function of the National Technical and Scientific Committee on Biosafety (CTSNB).

Zambia produced its largest corn crop on record in the 2021/22 MY. This bumper corn crop of 3.6 million tons follows on Zambia’s third largest corn crop of 3.4 million tons produced in the 2020/21 MY.

The Government of Bolivia approved the production of biodiesel in 2019 and now plans to build a processing plant in Santa Cruz.

The Government of Senegal is reviewing and revising its new biosafety law which may include language for an expedited approval process for certain genetically engineered (GE) products.

In the 2020/21 MY, Zambia produced its second highest corn crop on record. This bumper corn crop of 3.4 million tons is 69 percent higher than the previous season’s crop of 2.0 million tons.

The Zambian government estimates a 16 percent drop in the production of corn in the 2019/20 MY to 2.0 million tons, due to drought that impacted the southern parts of the country.

The Government of Bolivia approved two new genetically engineered events for soybeans in April 2019.