Required Report: Required - Public Distribution

Date: December 20, 2021
Report Number:

ET2021-0002

Report Name: Agricultural Biotechnology Annual
Country: Ethiopia
Post: Addis Ababa
Report Category: Biotechnology and Other New Production Technologies
Prepared By:

Abu Tefera

Approved By: Katherine Woody
Report Highlights:
The Government of Ethiopia (GOE) has made significant advancements in its ability to evaluate thesafety of crops produced using the tools of biotechnology. This has resulted in the GOE approving togrow one product (insect protected cotton).The only GE crop at commercial stage is Bt cotton, which
was approved for commercialization in 2018. There are other crops that are being researched in
Ethiopian laboratories and in confined field trials (CFT). Like the rest of the world, Ethiopia has been
experiencing the unprecedented social and economic negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The
effect of recurrent drought has also affected crop performance and health of livestock. The civil war in
the Tigray region is negatively impacting economic growth through lowering agricultural production,
foreign direct investment, tourism, and exports.

THIS REPORT CONTAINS ASSESSMENTS OF COMMODITY AND TRADE ISSUES MADE BY USDA STAFF AND NOT NECESSARILYSTATEMENTS OF OFFICIAL U.S. GOVERNMENT POLICYEXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Ethiopia has the second largest population in Africa with an estimated 115 million inhabitants in 2020.
Agriculture is at the heart of the Ethiopian economy, accounting for about 35 percent of the country’s
GDP and employing 85 million Ethiopians or 74% of the country’s inhabitants. Moreover, more than
60% of all Ethiopia's exports are generated from the agricultural sector. Future economic growth isexpected to hinge heavily on the country’s manufacturing sector, especially the agro-processing, textile
and apparel, and leather industries.
Given the current low-tech farming methods in Ethiopia, it is impossible to increase production using
conventional agricultural practices to meet future food and agricultural input demand. Despite pressing
food needs, the country is still dependent on traditional/conventional agriculture and takes little
advantage of its rich endemic genetic resources e.g., indigenous drought resistant grains. In 2018, theGOE permitted commercial cultivation of GE cotton and CFT of GE maize for five years. Cotton
producers look to GE cotton to solve the shortage of raw material to meet the high demand for cotton
lint from textile factories and the GE maize to overcome food security challenges.
The GOE plans to use agricultural biotechnology as a tool to achieve food security and increase
employment opportunities in the country. In 2018, the GOE started the TELA project to produce locally
adapted genetically engineered maize varieties to be insect and drought resistant. In November 2020, theEthiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) submitted a dossier application for environmental
release of TELA maize, which is pending approval by the National Biosafety Advisory Committee(NBAC). Ethiopia’s biosafety law requires mandatory labeling of products containing GE products or
ingredients.

2|PageTABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGYPART A: PRODUCTION AND TRADEa) PRODUCT DEVELOPMENTb) COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION
c) EXPORTS
d) IMPORTSe) FOOD AIDf) TRADE BARRIERSPART B: POLICYa) REGULATORY FRAMEWORKb) APPROVALSc) STACKED or PYRAMIDED EVENT APPROVALSd) FIELD TESTINGe) INNOVATIVE BIOTECHNOLOGIESf) COEXISTENCEg) LABELINGh) MONITORING AND TESTINGi) LOW LEVEL PRESENCE (LLP) POLICYj) ADDITIONAL REGULATORY REQUIREMENTSk) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR)l) CARTAGENA PROTOCOL RATIFICATIONm) INTERNATIONAL TREATIES and FORUMSn) RELATED ISSUESPART C: MARKETINGa) PUBLIC/PRIVATE OPINIONSb) MARKET ACCEPTANCE/STUDIESCHAPTER 2: ANIMAL BIOTECHNOLOGYPART D: PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
PART E: COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION
PART F: MARKETING
CHAPTER 3: MICROBIAL BIOTECHNOLOGYPART G: PRODUCTION AND TRADE
PART H: POLICYPART I: MARKETING

3|PageCHAPTER 1: PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGYPART A: PRODUCTION AND TRADEa) PRODUCT DEVELOPMENTb) COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION
c) EXPORTS
d) IMPORTSe) FOOD AIDf) TRADE BARRIERSa) PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Progress on WEMA -TELA Maize
Maize is one of Ethiopia’s most important cereals in terms of production and is grown by about 8
million farmers. A primary challenge of the Ethiopian maize value chain is access to high quality maize
seeds, which substantially impacts the productivity of small land holder farmers.
The Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project is a public-private partnership that works todevelop and deploy royalty-free, drought-tolerant and insect-pest protected (climate-smart) maize
varieties to Ethiopian farmers through conventional breeding, marker-assisted breeding, and genetic
engineering. The EIAR carried out the tests as part of regulatory approval process for farmers to growspecific genetic strains commercially.
The WEMA project aims to increase yield stability, protect harvests, and promote farmers’ investment
by embracing best management practices. The project is coordinated by the African Agricultural
Technology Foundation (AATF) in partnership with the EIAR. The main aim of the trial is to determine
how well the GE- maize resists drought and insects. The progress of the research was supervised by the
NBAC of the country.
Progress on False Banana Plants (Enset)
The EIAR is working closely with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on wiltresistant enset (False banana), which is from the botanical family of banana trees, but it is grown for its
stem and bulb. Unlike banana trees where the fruit is consumed, for the Enset plant, the pseudo stem,and the underground corm (bulblike base of a stem) are the edible parts. Approximately 20 percent of
the total population (over 22 million people) depend on it. It is domesticated in Ethiopia and primarily
cultivated in the southern and south-western regions of the country where it is a culturally andagriculturally symbolic crop, providing food security, cash income, animal feed, as well as preventing
erosion and soil loss on the steep slopes of the highlands. The plant is considered extremely droughttolerant and adapts to different soil types. Since enset flour is rich in starch but not in other essential
nutrients, an enset-based diet needs heavy supplementation of nutrients.
Enset production is threatened by bacterial wilt disease, and the EIAR/IITA project seeks to develop
resistant varieties through modern agricultural biotechnology. The Enset plant can withstand long
periods of drought, heavy rains, and flooding, which normally devastates other crops. However,4|Pagebacterial wilt is devastating the enset, hence threatening food security for over 22 million people who
depend on it as a staple food. Thirty years of research efforts by the national system to 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.
b) COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION
The GOE started GE crop official research in 2015 after the GOE passed the amendment to Biosafety
Proclamation No.896/2015. In 2018, the Government of Ethiopia authorized cultivation of GE cotton by
granting official approval for environmental release. In 2019/20, Ethiopian farmers planted Bt cotton
seed from JK Agri Genetics Ltd., from India on around 300 ha in the western and northern parts of thecountry. In 2020/21, farmers preferred buying cheaper GE seeds informally at the Sudan border, andthey planted it in 7,100 ha without any official seed certification process. Ethiopian farmers took thisaction due to the low cost of Sudanese cotton seeds and FOREX shortages in Ethiopia, making it
difficult to import cotton seed from JK Agri Genetics Ltd., India.
c) EXPORTS: The country does not produce any GE crops for export.
d) IMPORTS: Ethiopia imports processed biotech products such as soybean and corn oils,
alcoholic beverages, as well as breakfast cereals made from GE ingredients.
Currently there are no imports of GE grains or oilseeds. With respect to non-foodproducts, Ethiopia imports GE cotton from India and the United States.
e) FOOD AID: Ethiopia is one of the major food-aid-recipient countries in Africa. The food aid
commodities that contain GE ingredients, like corn soy blend (CSB) for school feedingand humanitarian programs are allowed into the country under a special GOE-issued
waiver.
f) TRADE BARRIERS: Foods containing GE ingredients must carry a label. The purpose oflabeling is to enable consumers to make informed choices on products to be purchased.
The biosafety law requires mandatory labeling of all products of agricultural
biotechnology to protect the consumer right to know. Foods containing GE ingredients
must carry a label with the following statement ‘Genetically Modified Food’.
m) INTERNATIONAL TREATIES and FORUMS: Ethiopia is a member of several internationalorganizations that deal with plant protection and plant health, including the International
Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) or the Codex Alimentarius (Codex). Ethiopia’s WTO
accession process started in January 2003 more than a decade ago. Ethiopia is currently
in the third phase of the WTO accession process, where the terms of accession will be
drafted. Generally, these international frameworks seek to protect the environment andhuman health without hindering international trade and aim to be transparent and inharmony with international trade regulations based on science.
PART B: POLICYa) REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

5|Page

The Environment Forest and Climate Change Commission (EFCCC), under the Prime Minister’s
office, is the competent authority within the GOE that is responsible for the biosafety
proclamation, which is the overarching legislation governing the use of GE technology in
Ethiopia. EIAR, which is housed under the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), provides technicalexpertise to support the research and development, biosafety assessments, and field trials, as wellas enforcing the proclamation provisions and implementing regulations. The Ethiopian
Biotechnology Institute (EBTi), which is housed under the Ministry of Innovation andTechnology (MIT), and the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration also play a role inshaping the country’s biotech regulatory framework. After the amended Biosafety Proclamationof 2015 was signed by the President of Ethiopia, the government subsequently revised the
proclamation’s underlying implementing directives to spell out specific requirements regarding
the research and application of the technology. These legal changes were due to a strong politicalpush from top officials, especially from the Prime Minister’s Office, with the expectation thatbiotech cotton would boost local production to satisfy the increasing demands from the growing
textile and apparel industry.
b) APPROVALS
In 2019/20, the two Bt-cotton hybrid varieties seed (JKCH 1947, JKCH 1050), which obtained
official approval in 2018, were sourced from JK Agri Genetics Ltd. from India. In 2020/21, no
Bt-cotton seed sourced from JK Agri Genetics Ltd due to FOREX shortages in the country andexpensive JK Agri Genetics Bt-cotton seed. A five-year approval from 2018/19 up to 2023/24
for CFT of insect resistant and drought tolerant maize (WEMA/TELA) was obtained from
NBAC and planted early September 2018/19 for the first time.
c) STACKED or PYRAMIDED EVENT APPROVALSThe NBAC approval for WEMA-TELA stacked maize involve more than one trait for both
insect resistance and drought tolerance. The amended Biosafety Proclamation of 2015 directives
does not clearly indicate the process for stacked event approval.
d) FIELD TESTING:
The third round of CFT of TELA maize has shown promising results. The trial results are in thehands of the NBAC to obtain the final approval.

e) INNOVATIVE BIOTECHNOLOGIESThere is no regulatory policy in Ethiopia for innovative biotechnologies such as genome editing.
There is research interest, and the country needs capacity building on genome editing for
research. Tissue culture and molecular characterization are the most common activities thatmany institutions and companies are using. Recently, the EBTi, Ethiopian Academy of Sciences(EAS) and Beijing Genomics Institute Group (BGI) a genome sequencing or DNA sequencecompany signed a tripartite agreement focusing on BGI-Africa (African genomic institute as abranch of BGI) in Addis Ababa. The EBTi facilitates the establishment and formation of

6|Pagemutually beneficial cooperative projects between Ethiopia institutions and BGI. The program
will help the country have ownership rights to the data from materials of animal, human, plant,
or bacteria which are sequenced in the country.
f) COEXISTANCE:
Ethiopia does not have a special policy on coexistence between GE crops and conventional crop.
g) LABELING AND TRACABILITY
Foods containing GE ingredients must carry a label with the following statement: ‘Genetically
Modified Food’. The purpose of the labeling is to enable consumers to make informed choices.
The biosafety law requires mandatory labeling of all products, which is to protect the consumer’s
right to know.
h) MONITERING AND TESTING
Ethiopia does not have uniform monitoring and testing mechanisms to detect GE products.
i) LOW LEVEL PRESENCE (LLP) POLICY
Ethiopia has no low-level presence policy.
J) ADDITIONAL REGULATORY REQUIREMENT
After GE crop approval is given by the Environment Forest and Climate Change commission,
the crop will also need to meet the requirements of other existing laws related to the seed system
in Ethiopia. Seed variety registration and release are required by the National Variety Release
Committee (NVRC), housed in the MOA, before GE seeds can be officially released to thefarmers. The Committee is composed of breeders, agronomists, crop protection specialists, andsocio-economists representing different research institutions and user organizations.
K) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR)
The Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO) oversees Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
issues. There is an established legal system for the protection of intellectual property rights inEthiopia as a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization. However, the country has
yet to sign several major international IPR treaties. Therefore, IPR protection of commerciallyplanted GE crops is uncertain in the country.
L) CARTAGENA PROTOCOL RATIFICATION
Ethiopia ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) on May 24, 2000. The Environment
Forest and Climate Change Commission is the Competent National Authority (CNA) and contact
point for the Cartagena Protocol and oversees national biosafety regulations.
m) INTERNATIONAL TREATIES and FORUMS
Ethiopia is a member of several international organizations that deal with plant protection andplant health, including the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) or the Codex. The
Government of Ethiopia applied for membership into the WTO in January 2003. Now Ethiopia isin the third phase of its WTO accession process.
n) RELATED ISSUESFAS Addis Ababa is not aware of any trade barriers due to biotechnology issues. Ethiopia
imports cotton and processed agricultural products such as soybeans and corn oils, as well as
breakfast cereals made from GE ingredients.

7|PagePART C: MARKETINGa) PUBLIC/PRIVATE OPINIONS:
Debate on biotech crops and bio-engineered foods remains contentious, political, emotional, andnot based on science. Some non-governmental organizations engage in targeting consumers withnegative, baseless messaging. The experience, and challenges regarding GE crop development in
2019/20 in Ethiopia shows that there is a need to bring researchers and scientists together toovercome anti-GE activities especially through awareness creation. This awareness creation
campaign should target Ethiopian consumers and politicians informing them about the benefitsof the technology. Ethiopian agricultural research scientists, farmers, university professors andstudents, seed companies, and other pro-biotech non-governmental organizations should
continue to provide science-based messaging. The GOE sees biotechnology as a tool to grow therural economy and to promote agro-industry.
b) MARKET ACCEPTANCE:FAS-Addis Ababa is unaware of any recent marketing studies that have evaluated Ethiopian
public attitudes towards products derived from GE products.

8|PageCHAPTER 2: ANIMAL BIOTECHNOLOGYPART D: PRODUCTION AND TRADEa) PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT:In Ethiopia, there are Animal Reproductive Biotechnology (ARB) and Animal Health Biotechnology(AHB) research like embryo transfer, reproductive synchronization, on quality of semen and sex sortingto get bulls or heifers. Ongoing biotechnology activities for enhancing livestock productivity continue
among scientists at the Ethiopian Institute Agricultural Research (EIAR), International LivestockResearch Institute (ILRI), and at the National Veterinary Institute (NVI) on the following areas:
1. Adopt and demonstrate animal reproductive biotechnology tools for genetic improvement andmultiplication of improved dairy cattle breeds to increase milk yield supply and farmers income.
2. Detection of selected signatures for trypanosome tolerance traits/genes in Ethiopian cattle.
3. Genome-wide association studies for egg production, egg quality and natural antibody traits inindigenous chickens in Ethiopia.
4. Harnessing fecundity and muscle growth genes to improve the productivity of indigenous sheepin Ethiopia using genomic approaches.
5. Other related animal biotechnology research includes development of vaccines and diagnostic
kits.
There are no GE animals under development in Ethiopia.
b) COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION: N/Ac) EXPORTS: N/Ad) IMPORTS: N/Ae) TRADE BARRIERS: N/APART E: POLICYa) REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: No clear regulatory framework exists to govern the use of animalrelated biotechnology. The current regulations appear to primarily deal with plant-based
biotechnologies.
b) APPROVALS: N/Ac) INNOVATIVE BIOTECHNOLOGIES: N/Ad) LABELING AND TRACEABILITY: N/Ae) ADDITIONALREGULATORY REQUIREMENTS: N/Af) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR): Refer to corresponding section in plantbiotechnology section.
g) INTERNATIONAL TREATIES and FORUMS: Ethiopia is active member of the World
Organization for Animal Health.
PART F: MARKETINGa) PUBLIC/PRIVATE OPINIONS: N/Ab) MARKET ACCEPTANCE/STUDIES: N/A

9|PageCHAPTER 3: MICROBIAL BIOTECHNOLOGYPART G: PRODUCTION AND TRADEa) PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT:
There are three microbial biotechnology programs which are in progress funded by the GOE anddonor support under the National Agricultural Biotechnology Center (NABC).
1. Food Microbial Biotechnology. The main objective is to develop tools for modernizationof traditional fermented foods and beverages and improvement of the nutritional valuesof food products using microbes.
2. Feed Microbial Biotechnology. Application of Microbial Technologies for improvementof feed utilization and digestibility.
3. Agro-Industrial Waste Utilization using Microbial Biotechnology andproduce and characterize enzymes from white rot fungi that improve the delignificationof wood chips and reduce the chemical and energy consumption.
b) COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION: Not applicablec) EXPORTS: Ethiopia exports beer, wines, spirits, ethyl alcohol, and vinegar in small volumes
which may contain microbial biotech derived ingredients.
d) IMPORTS: Ethiopia also imports different wines, spirits, and ethyl alcohol which may containmicrobial biotech derived ingredients. Some local bakeries also use imported ingredients forcoloring, flavoring and sweeting ingredients for ice cream and cake production which may havemicrobial biotech derived ingredients.
e) TRADE BARRIERS: N/APART H: POLICYa) REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: The same as for plant biotechnology.
b) APPROVALS: Not different from that of plant biotechnology approval process.
c) LABELING AND TRACEABILITY: Similar as for plant biotechnology.
d) MONITORING AND TESTING: Similar as for plant biotechnology.
e) ADDITIONAL REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS: Similar as for plant biotechnology.
f) INTELLECTUAL PROPERITY RIGHITS (IPR): The same as for plant biotechnology.
g) RELATED ISSUES: N/APART I: MARKETINGa) PUBLIC/PRIVATE OPINIONS: N/Ab) MARKET ACCEPTANCE/STUDIES: N/A
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