Bill Gates, the billionaire founder and former CEO of Microsoft, stood in the heart of a vast wheat field in Dugda Woreda, East Shewa Zone, Oromia region. The lush green expanse of wheat stretched as far as the eye could see. Beside him, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, beamed with pride, gesturing toward the bountiful harvest now flourishing where, just a few years ago, the land was said to have been barren and untouched.

A few days later, reflecting on his journey, Bill Gates shared his thoughts in a travel account. “The farm cluster we visited is a great example of how they’re doing it,” he wrote. “Three years ago, the fields there weren’t farmed at all. Today, nearly 2,400 farmers are working almost 100,000 acres of wheat, and they’re using innovative approaches to get the most out of the land.”

Over the past decades, Ethiopia has introduced a series of investment climate reforms across various sectors, including liberalization efforts and updates to laws and regulations. These measures aim to create a more favorable environment for partnerships and investments in the country, though they have not been universally well-received.

If we take the Prime Minister’s statements at face value, the technology used for Ethiopia’s wheat farms appears to focus on disease-resistant wheat varieties and early warning systems to prevent crop diseases. While these advancements highlight innovation in farming practices, it’s unclear from the provided information whether genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are part of the approach.

Whether these are GMO wheat varieties is indeed relevant, especially considering Bill Gates’ advocacy for Africa to adopt GMOs as a solution to food security challenges. During his visit to Nigeria, following his trip to Ethiopia, Gates renewed his call for the use of GMOs claiming they would improve agricultural productivity and combat hunger across the continent.

While the Ethiopian wheat farms might be employing advanced breeding techniques and heavy use of pesticides, it remains unclear whether GMOs are part of the approach, as specific details have not been disclosed. Many African countries, including Ethiopia, have historically been cautious about GMOs, but policies have evolved in recent years. The Abiy administration seems to unquestionably embrace the technology despite tangible concerns about its impact on health and ecology. In a recent article in the Mail & Guardian about Bill Gates’ influence on agriculture in Africa, Simon Allison, the Africa editor of the paper, and the founding editor-in-chief of The Continent, critiques Gates’ approach, arguing that his initiatives have reduced crop diversity and created dependency on commercial seeds. “Because they cannot reproduce themselves, new seeds must be bought every year from industrial agriculture companies such as Bayer and Syngenta, along with all the chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides,” the article states.

Despite this, no genetically modified wheat is grown commercially in Ethiopia. Dr. Tadesse Daba, lead researcher and national coordinator at the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB-Eth) under the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, confirms that GM wheat has never been imported into the country. He notes that Ethiopia’s lowland wheat seeds are produced domestically by local companies and the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute. However, this may change; the Abiy administration appears ready to adopt GMOs when the technology becomes available. In fact, just a few days ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved a type of genetically modified wheat developed by Argentina’s Bioceres Crop Solutions (BIOX.O) for safe cultivation in the United States. The determination clears the U.S. market for the production of HB4 wheat, which is reported to be modified to tolerate drought. This makes the United States the fourth country to approve the production of HB4 wheat, following Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria, Thailand, Indonesia, Colombia and Chile have approved HB4 wheat for food and feed use. Given Abiy’s enthusiasm for it, it is only a matter of time before Ethiopia might approve it.