The El Niño-intensified drought in southern Africa “could nudge African nations to finally embrace genetically modified crops to improve harvests and reduce grain imports,” says Reuters. Many countries have GMO bans in place out of concern about cross-pollination or fears of long-term effect on human health. Countries such as the United States say GMO crops are safe. The government of Zimbabwe plans to import up to 700,000 tonnes of corn this year, and with its usual suppliers also suffering drought it could receive GMO corn after all. Burkina Faso and Sudan have began commercial cultivation of GMO cotton. Zambia’s minister of higher education told the parliament last month that “we cannot afford to ignore the benefits of this technology.” One expert told Reuters that Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Swaziland, Nigeria and Ghana have been conducting trials of various GMO crops and Ethiopia amended its biosafety laws to allow tests of GMO cotton.