Gene-editing technologies for developing climate resilient rice crops in sub-Saharan Africa
Political priorities and space for responsible innovation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19568503 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Helena Shilomboleni (0000-0002-9875-6484, University of Waterloo), Abdelbagi M Ismail (0000-0002-1961-3072) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2023-05-08 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Elementa Science of the Anthropocene (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2325-1026 • E-ISSN: 2325-1026 |
| Publisher | University of California Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1525/elementa.2022.00145 |
| OpenAlex | W4381797951 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 59 |
Over the last 2 decades, rice has become one of the most important staple crops for sub-Saharan Africa. Estimates show that average consumption of rice has tripled over the last 3 decades, from 9.2 million metric tons (Mt) in the early 1990s to 31.5 million Mt in 2018, with West and Central Africa accounting for nearly two-thirds of this share. The demand for rice, however, has placed an enormous economic burden on African countries, whereby they spent over USD 5.5 billion per year on rice imports over the past few years. To address this challenge, over 32 countries have established National Rice Development Strategies to increase local production and to achieve rice self-sufficiency. Several of these countries have shown policy interest to use modern biotechnological advancements, including gene editing, to ensure increases in rice productivity and reduce food imports, in the context of extreme climate vulnerability and acceleration of the effects of biotic and abiotic stresses. This review article examines the role of biotechnology in African countries’ efforts to achieve rice self-sufficiency, particularly the potential for genome-editing technologies toward the genetic improvement of rice and to Africa’s nascent research programs. This article notes that while gene editing offers important advances in crop breeding, like genetic engineering, it faces some persistent sociopolitical challenges and low societal acceptability. As such, international partnerships advancing genome editing in Africa’s rice-subsectors development could benefit from adopting key principles from “responsible research and innovation” to help these projects achieve their potential, while bringing about more inclusive and reflexive processes that strive to anticipate the benefits and limits associated with new biotechnologies as they relate to local contexts. Such an approach could create the necessary political space to test and assess the benefits (and risks) related to adopting gene-editing technologies in Africa’s rice sectors
Agricultural economics · Agriculture · Biology · Business · Climate change · Developing country · Economic growth · Economics · Food security · Geography · Green Revolution · Natural resource economics · Productivity · CRISPR and Genetic Engineering · Genetically Modified Organisms Research · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development · Biotechnology · Ecology
Societal acceptability conditions of genome editing for upland rice in Madagascar
Democratizing CRISPR? Stories, practices, and politics of science and governance on the agricultural gene editing frontier
Inclusive innovation in crop gene editing for smallholder farmers
Responsible innovation and the reshaping of existing technological trajectories
Exploring the readiness of publicly funded researchers to practice responsible research and innovation in digital agriculture
Genetically engineered crops and responsible innovation
Reconceptualising responsible research and innovation from a Global South perspective
Responsible Innovation as a source of inspiration for Technology Assessment, and vice versa
Responsible to whom? Seed innovations and the corporatization of agriculture
Responsible innovation as a critique of technology assessment
Responsible innovation across borders
Moving toward rice self-sufficiency in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030
Precision Technologies for Agriculture
Managing Socio-Ethical Challenges in the Development of Smart Farming
NGO perspectives on the social and ethical dimensions of plant genome-editing
Anticipating farmer outcomes of three genetically modified staple crops in sub-Saharan Africa
The trans-Atlantic conflict over “green” farming
New models of inclusive innovation for development
Good intentions in complex realities
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |