The right to food

An estimated 44 million hectares (110 million feddans) of genetically modified (GM) crops were planted in year 2000. The most common GM crops are soybean (58 per cent of GM crop total), maize (23 per cent), cotton (12 per cent) and canola (7 per cent), with small amounts of potato, squash and papaya.

In 2000, Argentina, Canada, China and the United States accounted for 99 per cent of the global GM crop area. Other countries growing commercial GM crops were Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine and Uruguay. Many developing countries in Africa are involved in GM research, such as Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe, in wheat, groundnut, cotton, squash, sugar cane and sweet potato crops. In Asia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand are testing one or more GM tobacco, tomato, cotton, sorghum and bananas crops.