As progressively more farmers in developing countries begin using biotech crops, careful evaluation of such crops' benefits becomes ever more important.This food policy review examines the applied economics literature regarding the impact of biotech crops on non-industrialized agriculture, and investigates the research methods used in assessing how these crops affect farmers, consumers, the agricultural sector as a whole, and international trade. This analysis offers a tool for researchers who seek to produce objective, relevant analysis of emerging crop biotechnologies that can in turn be used by national policymakers in developing countries.

Challenges and Opportunities with GM Crops in Vietnam: the Case of Bt Cotton; Cotton Production in Vietnam; Consideration of Problem Formulation an Option Assessment (PFOA) for Environmental Risk Assessment: Bt Cotton in Vietnam; Transgene Locus Structure and Expression; Non-target and Biological Diversity Risk Assessment; Potential Effect of Transgenic Cotton on Non-target Herbivores in Vietnam; Invertebrate Predators in Bt Cotton in Vietnam: Techniques for Prioritizing Species and Developing Risk Hypotheses for Risk Assessment; Potential Effects of Transgenic Cotton on Non-target Insect Parasitoids in Vietnam; Potential Effects of Transgenic Cotton on Flower Visitors in Vietnam; Potential Effects of Transgenic Cotton on Soil Ecosystem Processes in Vietnam; Environmental Risks Associated with Gene Flow from Transgenic Cotton in Vietnam; Resistance Risk Assessment and Management for Bt Cotton in Vietnam; Challenges and Opportunities with Bt Cotton in Vietnam: Synthesis and Recommendations.

A variable climate, political instability, and other constraints have limited agricultural development in African countries south of the Sahara. Genetically modified (GM) crops are one tool for enhancing agricultural productivity and food security despite such constraints. Genetically Modified Crops in Africa: Economic and Policy Lessons from Countries South of the Sahara investigates how this tool might be effectively used by evaluating the benefits, costs, and risks for African countries of adopting GM crops. The authors gather together studies on GM crops’ economic effects and impact on trade, how consumers view such crops, and other issues. They find that GM crops have had, on average, a positive economic effect in the nations where they were used and identify future steps for enhancing GM crop adoption’s positive effects. Promising policy initiatives include making biosafety regulations that do not make GM crop development prohibitively expensive, fostering intraregional trade in GM crops, and providing more and better information about GM crops to consumers who might currently be skeptical of them. These and other findings in Genetically Modified Crops in Africa indicate ways biotechnology can contribute to economic development in Africa south of the Sahara.