Agriculture is the cornerstone of global food security and plays a vital role in ensuring that all people have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. As the primary means of producing food, agriculture supports the livelihoods of billions of people worldwide, provides essential nutrients for human health, and drives economic development. However, according to the UN’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report (2024), an estimated 713-757 million people faced hunger in 2023, with approximately 2.33 billion people facing moderate or severe food insecurity. Thus, to make the world food secure, and to meet an estimated 60% increase in food demand due to the projected rise in global population to about 9.8 billion by 2050, food production is to be substantially increased.
The Global South, comprising regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and parts of Southeast Asia holds significant potential and a comparative advantage over Global North to contribute to global food security. Besides having abundant arable land, many of the world’s important food crops have originated in the Global South. For example, crops like rice, maize, millet, beans, quinoa, and cassava are native to countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. This rich biodiversity is critical for future food security as it provides genetic resources for developing more resilient, high-yielding crops.
However, the region faces pressing challenges related to food security due to climate change. A comprehensive assessment of the impact of climate change on agriculture conducted in 2005 predicted a decline of up to 35% in African countries as compared to 15.9% globally by 2080 (https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2005.1744). A recent study published in 2021 has shown that global agricultural productivity declined due to climate change by about 21% since 1961, and a more severe reduction ranging from 26 to 34% was observed in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01000-1). As rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and extreme weather events increasingly threaten agricultural productivity, innovative solutions are urgently needed to increase crop productivity and enhance climate resilience. Science-based solutions and agricultural practices that help adapt crops to these changes include innovations in crop breeding, efficient management of natural resources including land and water, sustainable farming practices and regenerative agriculture.
To make agriculture climate resilient and sustainable, we first need to develop crops that can adapt to the fast-changing climate, and crops utilising soil water and nutrients more efficiently so as to curtail greenhouse gas emissions significantly. Recent biotechnological innovations in crop breeding are seen as major drivers for addressing the current food production challenges. The CRISPR-Cas system of genome editing discovered in 2012 has emerged as the most potent technology for genetic improvement of various life forms and is already making waves in agriculture and allied sectors. It enables precise modifications in the genetic makeup of crops, accelerating the production of new crop varieties and allowing for the development of varieties that can better withstand the environmental stresses posed by climate change. For instance, genome editing can produce crops that require less water, which is crucial for arid and semi-arid regions common in the Global South.
Thus, concerted efforts are needed to apply these powerful technologies in the Global South on a large scale to create crops that are more resilient to drought, high temperature, salinity, and resistant to emerging pests and diseases, in addition to producing high yields with less water and nutrients.
Globally, research is in progress on utilising genome editing for enhancing climate resilience and promoting sustainability in agriculture. Several crops have been targeted for genome editing to improve their resilience to drought and heat stresses. Advancements have already been made in developing drought-resistant maize and rice varieties. Genome-edited rice varieties have been developed with improved drought and salt tolerance, and higher grain yield that are undergoing field trials in India. Similarly, genome-edited drought-tolerant wheat is being developed by the African national agricultural research institutes. Several genome-edited diseases-resistant crops have been developed in the African continent, such as Striga-resistant sorghum, maize-lethal necrosis-resistant maize, bacterial leaf blight and wilt-resistant rice, and bananas resistant to viruses and bacterial diseases. Herbicide-tolerant sorghum has been developed using base editing and is undergoing evaluation in Kenya.
By harnessing the power of gene editing technologies, not only we can develop disease-resistant and climate-resilient crop cultivars but we should also explore their enormous potential to support sustainable agriculture. Promoting sustainability through genome editing is needed to save precious natural resources. Agri-genome editing has the potential to contribute to sustainable agriculture by designing crops to utilize soil water and nutrients (N, P, K) more efficiently, thus reducing input costs for farmers and minimizing environmental impact. For example, nitrogenous fertiliser use-efficient rice varieties can lead to lower nitrogen usage, thus mitigating soil and water pollution, and reducing nitrous oxide gas emission, which is nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide in warming the atmosphere.
Additionally, it is important to lay emphasis on deploying gene editing to develop crops with enhanced efficiency to capture carbon from the atmosphere and sequester it, particularly in the roots to enrich the soil with increased amounts of carbon.
De novo domestication of wild species through genome editing is another opportunity to develop crops with enhanced productivity and climate resilience. Accelerated domestication of landraces and underutilized crops has also been reported using genome editing. Recently, remarkable success was achieved in improving an ancient grain crop teff, a cereal staple of Ethiopia and Eritrea, through gene editing. The Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research developed this semi-dwarf, lodging-resistant genome-edited teff in collaboration with Corteva Agriscience and Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre, USA.
This collaborative success in developing gene-edited teff highlights the importance of leveraging strategic partnerships globally to develop more genome-edited crops in the Global South to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Additionally, major emphasis is needed to train and develop the competence of Indigenous researchers and crop breeders for efficiently developing and scaling the production of genome-edited crops.
With regard to biosafety regulation, globally about 30 countries have accepted genome-edited crops as equivalent to conventionally bred crops and hence are not regulated as GMOs. Out of these 30 countries, 17 are from the Global South. However, a harmonized regulatory policy framework is the need of the hour across the Global South, and globally as well, for facilitating efficient development and release of genome-edited crops for meeting the growing demands of food sustainably.
Conclusion
While agriculture in the Global South is indispensable for meeting the world’s food needs and achieving global food security, the application of agri-genome editing holds significant promise for increasing food production, enhancing climate resilience and promoting sustainability. By developing crops that can withstand the challenges posed by climate change, CRISPR-based editing can contribute significantly to food security and improve livelihoods for millions. However, to unlock its full potential, the Global South will require access to technology, building scientific expertise, international collaboration, and a uniform policy framework. This is essential not only for safeguarding regional food security but for ensuring a stable, equitable and sustainable global food system.
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