Authors’ note: This blog post was written by Anna Backhaus and Matt Heaton.
At the 2025 International Agricultural Show in Morocco (SIAM), scientists, policymakers, and international partners came together for a panel discussion exploring a pressing question for global and African agriculture: How can gene editing (GE) help breed more resilient, sustainable, and nutritious crops?
Co-hosted by the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the British Embassy in Morocco, the panel discussion convened leading voices in agricultural research and policy from Morocco and elsewhere. The event included representatives from USDA, ONSSA, INRA, and IAV, underscoring the shared commitment to building resilient food systems through science and collaboration.
SIAM 2025 opened with remarks from Ahmed Himy, representing the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), who stressed the importance of international collaboration in addressing urgent agricultural challenges.
Dr Anna Backhaus, ICARDA scientist and co-host, followed by showcasing the crop genetic enhancement project, funded by the UK-CGIAR Centre. This project uses precision breeding to bring more nutritious and disease resistant wheat varieties to Egypt, Kenya and Pakistan. The presentation showed how GE technology will only benefit agriculture through cross-sector collaboration with scientists, farmers, policymakers, and communication specialists.
To understand how different stakeholders view GE crops, ICARDA surveyed participants around the event. The first finding was that researchers and farmers want different benefits from GE, with farmers focusing on increased yields while researchers see greater pest and disease resistance as most promising (see Figure 1). These findings show those developing GE traits might have different priorities to what producers want, highlighting the need for closer communication and collaboration for trait targeting.
Figure 1
All panel speakers emphasized that GE offers more precise and faster crop improvement than traditional breeding. GE technology expert, Dr Valentine Otang Ntui from Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) shared examples of how GE is being applied at UM6P to improve tomato resistance to devastating virus and cactus resistant to cochineal – a valuable source of fruits and animal feed during the driest of months.
Dr Otang Ntui also showed how GE has the potential to protect yields, reduce reliance on pesticides, develop more nutritious crops and make farming more sustainable. Dr Imane Thami Alami, Director of Research at INRA, followed this by adding that countries not allowing GE technology are missing important opportunities.
The discussants highlighted the critical role supportive policy frameworks play in enabling innovation while ensuring public confidence in GE technologies. Similarly, the survey found that 50% of farmers feel it is important to develop Moroccan GE regulation and that this aligns with international GE policy to enable trade.
As one attendee noted, enabling GE through thoughtful regulation could empower African researchers and farmers to develop solutions tailored to local needs, rather than relying solely on imported technologies.
Panellists discussed the rigorous safety testing on GE products. When asked whether they would personally eat GE crops, all panellists answered with a confident yes, underlining their trust in the technology. The survey showed that 50% of farmers would also be comfortable growing and eating GE crops, but that many of the wider sample, including researchers and students, were unsure or uncomfortable about eating GE crops.
Those who were unsure about GE safety wanted access to more safety studies, providing a priority topic for Moroccan GE communications. The survey also showed that while researchers seek this information through academic publications, farmers rely on social media for GE updates, and a range of local information sources (see Figure 2).
Figure 2
As global challenges to food security continue to intensify, events like SIAM serve as a vital platform to discuss and shape the future of agriculture. The next UK-CGIAR event in Morocco will be a GE training workshop for international early career researchers looking to use these tools to unlock more resilient, nutritious and sustainable crop varieties.
📢 See more from the day: Dr Anna Backhaus on X and the UK in Morocco post
Anna Backhaus is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at ICARDA.
Matt Heaton is Research Associate at the Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development.
Photo credit: ICARDA.