Burkina Faso calls time on Monsanto's GM cotton, demands $280m damages

After a run of low quality GM cotton crops with unusually short fibres, Burkina Faso has ended its love affair with Monsanto's Bt cotton, writes Claire Robinson. In a further blow to the company, growers are demanding $280 million compensation for their losses.

In a move that could help decide the future of GM crops in Africa, Burkina Faso has abandoned GM Bt cotton.

The country has begun a complete phase-out of the crop, citing the inferior lint quality of GM cultivars.

This story of a major GMO failure is documented in a new briefing in the journal African Affairs, which is published by Oxford University Press.