Ethiopia has authorized cultivation of biotech crops.This includes approvals for environmental release of Bt cotton and research trials on biotech maze.

The country will start with two Bt cotton hybrids JKCH1050 and JKCH1947.

The country has identified cotton as a strategically important commodity crop to supply raw material for the rapidly growing textile sector and to generate thousands of jobs along the cotton sub-sector value chain.

Thirty years of research efforts to manage/control bacterial wilt of enset using conventional techniques could not succeed due to the absence of resistant clones in the genetic base of the crop.

There will be field trials on maize for drought tolerance and insect resistance.

Ethiopia’s textile industry is fast catching up with the likes of Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and other Far East countries.

The prospects of this country advancing to a medium level of industrialization are very much within sight.