By contrast, the African continent is overcoming its initial apprehensions about GM crops, prompted by skepticism in the European export market and by the activities of NGOs. Earlier this year, Ghana's recently established National Biosafety Committee received three applications from scientists to conduct research and field trials on GM crops, one for cowpea and two for sweet potato.

If these applications are approved, Ghana will become the seventh African country cultivating GM crops. Currently, however, only three African countries—Burkina Faso, Egypt and South Africa—grow GM crops commercially. Seed sales in South Africa, the biggest producer of GM crops in Africa, show that Bt maize and Roundup Ready soybean make up about two-thirds of maize and soybean sales, and all cotton seed sales are of Bt cotton.

Although few African countries are planting GM varieties, nearly 20 nations have fully fledged biosafety regulations. Diran Makinde, the director of the African Biosafety Network and Expertise (ABNE) says many francophone countries adopted laws based on the precautionary approach endorsed by the European Union. These made those planting GM crops—whether companies or research institutes—liable for any harm resulting from it, which meant nobody was willing to take the risk.

Currently, only a very few countries are opposed outright to GM. The only African country with a straight-up moratorium is Benin, whereas Angola simply says it is not interested. But there is still plenty of resistance to GM technology throughout Africa. The first concern is whether the technology itself is safe for humans and animals as well as for the environment. The second is fear that big agribusinesses will exploit poor farmers by controlling seed production.

These concerns are often put forward by activist groups, such as Biowatch South Africa and the African Centre for Biosafety, also based in South Africa, or international organizations like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace. As for the man on the street, his general understanding of the technology remains low. Misinformation abounds, says Andrew Kiggundu, a researcher at Uganda's Kawanda Research Institute, based near Kampala. Uganda does not yet have a biosafety bill to regulate commercial growing of GM crops. But most Ugandans believe that the crops developed at the institute using biotech are GM varieties.