December 21, 2001 -- South African farmers have completed planting of the country's first commercial transgenic food
crop, according to Monsanto sources. Roundup Ready soybeans were approved earlier this year by
South Africa's Executive Council for Genetically Modified Organisms, the body that reviews the
country's applications for approval of biotech products.

South Africa traditionally imports soybeans to supplement domestic production and since 1999 has
imported Roundup Ready soybeans from other countries where they are grown. Growers this year
planted approximately 7,000 hectares (17,500 acres) of Roundup Ready soybeans.

Since 1998, non-food transgenic crops have been approved for planting in South Africa, including Bt
corn for animal feed, Roundup Ready cotton and Bollgard, Monsanto's insect-protected cotton.

"This decision is good news for South African growers who now have an
opportunity to share in the economic and environmental benefits of Roundup
Ready soybeans," says Kinyua Mbijjewe, Monsanto's spokesman for Africa.

Bollgard cotton has been a particular advantage to
growers in the Makhathini Flats region of South Africa, one of the poorer
regions of the world, where bollworms traditionally have destroyed up to
60 percent of growers' harvests. Insect-protected cotton, enhanced through
biotechnology to repel bollworms, significantly reduces pesticide use and
increases yields.

"The success of Bollgard in Makhathini Flats is a good example of how
biotechnology can help farmers in Africa and throughout the developing world
improve the quantity and quality of crops they depend on for income and to
feed their families and communities," says Mbijjewe.

Although South Africa is currently the only country in Africa that has
approved commercial transgenic crops, research and testing on similar products is
being conducted throughout the continent and in other developing regions. For
example, in 2001, the first field trials of virus-resistant sweet potatoes
were completed in Kenya.

According to a recent report by the International Service for the
Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), there has been "a
significant increase of up to 100,000 hectares of transgenic crops" in South
Africa since 1998.

According to the ISAAA report, the proportion of transgenic crops grown in
developing countries has increased consistently from 14 percent in 1997, to
16 percent in 1998, to 18 percent in 1999, and 24 percent in 2000.

"Despite the ongoing debate on genetically modified crops, particularly in
countries of the European Union, millions of large and small farmers in both
industrial and developing countries continue to increase their plantings of GM
crops because of the significant multiple benefits they offer," says Clive
James, chairman of the ISAAA board of directors.

Of the total global area (conventional and transgenic) of 271 million hectares planted to soybean,
canola, cotton and corn in 2000, 16 percent equivalent to 44.2 million hectares, were planted with
transgenic varieties. These 44.2 million hectares of transgenic crops represent a 25-fold increase
since 1996, according to the ISAAA, and are equivalent to almost twice the total land area of the
United Kingdom (24.4 million hectares).

The global area of transgenic crops in 2000, comprised 36 percent of the 72 million hectares of
soybeans planted globally, 16 percent of the 34 million hectares of cotton, 11 percent of the 25
million hectares of canola and 7 percent of the 140 million hectares of corn.

Three nations, Bulgaria, Germany and Uruguay, grew transgenic crops for the first time in 2000.The
four principal countries that grew the majority of transgenic crops in 2000 were:

• The United States with 30.3 million hectares (68 percent of the global area).

• Argentina, 10 million hectares (23 percent).

• Canada, three million hectares (7 percent).

• China, 0.5 million hectares (1 percent).
  

The balance was grown in South Africa, Australia, Romania, Mexico, Bulgaria, Spain, Germany,
France, and Uruguay. The highest growth in transgenic crop area between 1999 and 2000 was
reported for Argentina (3.3 million hectares), followed by United States (1.6 million hectares), with
China and South Africa with 0.2 and 0.1 million hectares respectively. A decrease of one million
hectares was estimated for Canada due mainly to less national area planted to canola.

Growth in area of transgenic crops between 1999 and 2000 in the developing countries for the first
time exceeded, by more than five times, the area growth in transgenic crops in industrial countries
(3.6 million hectares versus 0.7 million hectares). Of the 4.3 million hectares global growth in 2000,
3.6 million hectares, equivalent to 84 percent were in the developing countries.

Soybeans contributed the most to global growth of transgenic crops, equivalent to 4.2 million
hectares between 1999 and 2000, followed by cotton with an increase of 1.6 million hectares. GM
corn and canola decreased by 0.8 and 0.6 million hectares respectively because of decreases in USA
and Canada, which were partly offset by increases in transgenic corn in developing countries.

The ISAAA report is available at www.isaaa.org.