Article debunks claims that gene editing will revolutionise crop breeding in Africa

Gene editing has captured the imagination of academics and professionals working on agricultural development in Africa. They claim the technology has the potential to revolutionise crop breeding, based on assertions of precision, cheapness and speed.

However, these claims are strongly challenged in a new peer-reviewed article by an international group of development experts led by Joeva Sean Rock, Professor of Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK. The authors review the evidence and experience of older-style GM crops in Africa, as well as the research findings to date on gene editing. They conclude that unless hard lessons are learned from experience with first-generation GM crops, gene editing projects "are in danger of repeating mistakes of the past".

The article is open access and written in an easy-to-understand style, and we recommend reading it in full.

We've heard it before

The authors find that the narratives around gene editing closely echo the earlier ones underpinning the introduction of older-style GM crops into Africa: "But the reality of GM crops in Africa has not lived up to the hype". Problems include...