South Africa leads sub-Saharan Africa in growing genetically modified crops, the Young African Leaders Initiative, or YALI reports.

South Africa grows three crops — maize, soybean and cotton — from seeds derived from biotechnology, according to a new report by the nonprofit International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications.

In 2014, 18 million farmers — 90 percent of them smallholders — planted biotech crops in 28 countries around the world, said the ISAAA report.

Margaret Karembu is director of the ISAAA AfriCenter in Nairobi. She earned a doctorate in environmental science from Kenyatta University and is the author of “Biotech Crops in Africa: The Final Frontier” (2009).

Agricultural biotechnology includes genetic engineering and other tools, such as traditional breeding techniques that alter living organisms, or parts of organisms, to make or modify products; improve plants or animals; or develop microorganisms for specific agricultural uses, according to the YALI report.

Burkina Faso and Sudan grow biotech-improved varieties of cotton.

Genetically modified crops were first commercialized in 1996 to enhance disease resistance, repel insects or increase harvests.

“Africa is quickly picking out those technologies that are relevant to their situation,” Karembu said in a Youtube video.

Supporters say genetically modified crops are the fastest adopted crop technology in recent times, and are part of the solution to the challenges of food security and climate change, YALI reports.