The complex choreography of agricultural biotechnology in Africa

Rock, Joeva; Schurman, Rachel

doi:10.1093/afraf/adaa021

Cited by 30 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…Paarlberg (2009Paarlberg ( , 2010Paarlberg ( , 2014 has consistently laid the blame at the feet of prosperous global North countries and their outspoken anti-GMO groups. Yet others contend that there is greater complexity for the slow GM crop adoption in Africa, encompassing social, political, legislative, and business conditions (Scoones and Glover, 2009;Komen et al, 2020;Rock and Schurman, 2020). Nevertheless, environmental release approvals have recently been granted for GM cotton in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, and Nigeria.…”

Section: Little Known Regulatory Landscape In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Regulation of Genetically Modified Crops Amid the Gene Edited Crop Boom – A Review

2021

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Products derived from agricultural biotechnology is fast becoming one of the biggest agricultural trade commodities globally, clothing us, feeding our livestock, and fueling our eco-friendly cars. This exponential growth occurs despite asynchronous regulatory schemes around the world, ranging from moratoriums and prohibitions on genetically modified (GM) organisms, to regulations that treat both conventional and biotech novel plant products under the same regulatory framework. Given the enormous surface area being cultivated, there is no longer a question of acceptance or outright need for biotech crop varieties. Recent recognition of the researchers for the development of a genome editing technique using CRISPR/Cas9 by the Nobel Prize committee is another step closer to developing and cultivating new varieties of agricultural crops. By employing precise, efficient, yet affordable genome editing techniques, new genome edited crops are entering country regulatory schemes for commercialization. Countries which currently dominate in cultivating and exporting GM crops are quickly recognizing different types of gene-edited products by comparing the products to conventionally bred varieties. This nuanced legislative development, first implemented in Argentina, and soon followed by many, shows considerable shifts in the landscape of agricultural biotechnology products. The evolution of the law on gene edited crops demonstrates that the law is not static and must adjust to the mores of society, informed by the experiences of 25 years of cultivation and regulation of GM crops. The crux of this review is a consolidation of the global legislative landscape on GM crops, as it stands, building on earlier works by specifically addressing how gene edited crops will fit into the existing frameworks. This work is the first of its kind to synthesize the applicable regulatory documents across the globe, with a focus on GM crop cultivation, and provides links to original legislation on GM and gene edited crops.

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Section: Little Known Regulatory Landscape In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Regulation of Genetically Modified Crops Amid the Gene Edited Crop Boom – A Review

2021

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“…This may be due to the multi-layered, multi-actor projects many African scientists find themselves in. Projects overseen by the AATF involve numerous research councils, funders, private actors and others in a 'complex choreography' of interests and conditions that must be satisfied for a crop to move through research and development (R&D) and to commercialization (Rock and Schurman, 2020).…”

Section: Institutional Structures Mattermentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the Genome: Genetically Modified Crops in Africa and the Implications for Genome Editing

Rock¹,

Schnurr²,

Kingiri³

et al. 2023

Development and Change

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Genome editing — a plant‐breeding technology that facilitates the manipulation of genetic traits within living organisms — has captured the imagination of scholars and professionals working on agricultural development in Africa. Echoing the arrival of genetically modified (GM) crops decades ago, genome editing is being heralded as a technology with the potential to revolutionize breeding based on enhanced precision, reduced cost and increased speed. This article makes two interventions. First, it identifies the discursive continuity linking genome editing and the earlier technology of genetic modification. Second, it offers a suite of recommendations regarding how lessons learned from GM crops might be integrated into future breeding programmes focused on genome editing. Ultimately, the authors argue that donors, policy makers and scientists should move beyond the genome towards systems‐level thinking by prioritizing the co‐development of technologies with farmers; using plant material that is unencumbered by intellectual property restrictions and therefore accessible to resource‐poor farmers; and acknowledging that seeds are components of complex and dynamic agroecological production systems. If these lessons are not heeded, genome‐editing projects are in danger of repeating mistakes of the past.

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“…Genome editing using CRISPR-Cas takes advantage of an adaptive immune system in bacteria and archaea to control the introduction of targeted, sequence-specific variation (Jinek et al 2012). While there is still some way to go before CRISPR editing of plants become economically and technically feasible (e.g., Massel et al 2021), as well as politically, regulatory, socioculturally, and ethically acceptable in certain parts of the world (e.g., Bartkowski et al 2018;Rock and Schurman 2020), new opportunities for feminist crop breeding may unfold as CRISPR-Cas editing becomes increasingly advanced and versatile.…”

Section: Breeding Plant-people Entanglementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feminist Crops: A More-than-Human Concept for Advancing Feminist Crop Breeding for Development

Tarjem

2022

Catalyst

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Gender matters in agriculture, and crop breeding teams are increasingly being asked to develop plant varieties that respond to the needs and preferences of men and women. Achieving gender-responsive crop breeding requires communication and cooperation across disciplines, not least between crop breeders and gender specialists. The coming together of plant sciences and gender studies necessitates novel ideas, concepts, and approaches that unite nature with culture and the material with the social. However, the development of such approaches is still in its infancy. Empirically grounded in experiences in and observations of social and natural scientists working at the intersection of gender and crop breeding in an African context, this article contributes to filling this gap by proposing the concept of the “feminist crop.” The feminist crop captures the entanglement of crops with women’s embodied practices, knowledges, capabilities, and power, and contributes to an ethico-onto-epistemological and methodological investigation of how intersectional gender identities and relations are embedded in plant–people entanglements. Using examples from banana, yam, and cassava, I explore how the feminist crop can expand the boundaries of how we think about agency, power, and empowerment in agriculture, as well as how plant genome editing grounded in the feminist crop concept may be used as a feminist tool to entangle plants and people in more socially just ways. Ultimately then, the feminist crop contributes to advancing feminist crop breeding.

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The complex choreography of agricultural biotechnology in Africa

Cited by 30 publications

References 0 publications

Global Regulation of Genetically Modified Crops Amid the Gene Edited Crop Boom – A Review

Global Regulation of Genetically Modified Crops Amid the Gene Edited Crop Boom – A Review

Beyond the Genome: Genetically Modified Crops in Africa and the Implications for Genome Editing

Feminist Crops: A More-than-Human Concept for Advancing Feminist Crop Breeding for Development

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