Agricultural biotechnology is rapidly becoming a major component of the global economy after lagging behind other commercial initiatives.Agricultural biotechnology for the "Third World" or the "South" at one time conjured images of dependence on another country's technology, usually the United States, to improve food production for local use and export. Profits and benefits for the recipient nations were limited by the high costs of annually purchasing patented seeds and stock. Most of the financial gain of agricultural biotechnology went to the nation supplying the genetically modified (GM) plants. This countered any efforts for sustainability and self-sufficiency.

American companies such as Monsanto and various European corporations focus many of their agricultural biotechnology initiatives on developing nations by producing foods with enhanced nutritional value and crops capable of growing in uncultivable land. Golden Rice, developed by the multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, is one apparently successful example of a GM crop with good market penetration and global acceptance as evident by accolades from the United Nations World Health Organization and the World Bank. Twenty years ago it was unfathomable to think that the "Third World" could compete with the large multinational corporations for a share of the agricultural biotechnology market.

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