Seven African countries: Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda, have conducted field trials on a broad range of biotech crops, including cotton. As of November 30, 2013, a total of 22 countries have granted regulatory approvals for 49 varieties of biotech cotton. Of these, the variety that has received the most number of approvals is insect resistant cotton MON531, which has received 36 approvals in 17 countries followed by insect resistant cotton MON1445 with 34 approvals in 15 countries.

Between 1996 and 2012, Bt cotton in China generated economic benefits valued at over $15 billion. Bt crops also provided important benefits to farmers and the environment in China, with insecticide use decreasing by 50 per cent or more on biotech cotton. Africa, too, continued to make progress in adopting and growing Bt cotton. Burkina Faso increased its Bt cotton hectares by over 50 per cent while Sudan tripled its Bt cotton from 20,000 hectares in 2012 to 62,000 hectares in 2013.

Production of Bt cotton grew both in India and China last year. India cultivated 11 million hectares of Bt cotton with an adoption rate of 95 per cent, while China grew 4.2 million hectares of Bt cotton with an adoption rate of 90 per cent.