AUDA-NEPAD, in partnership with the Environmental Affairs Department in Malawi, conducted a sensitization workshop on genome editing applications and their regulation in agriculture from 23-24 November 2022 in Lilongwe, Malawi. The second day of the meeting was principally dedicated to the launching of three important biosafety guidelines: Guidelines on Genome Editing, Guidelines on the Safety Assessment of Food and Feed Derived from GM Crops, and Guidelines on the Assessment of GMOs with Stacked Events.

Twenty-three participants attended the sensitization workshop on the first day. They were inducted to historical bases of modern crop improvement, from crop domestication by selection to classical breeding based on Mendelian genetics and genetic engineering, including genome editing. The impacts genetic technologies continue to make on the world food supply and the need for harnessing available and emerging technologies was highlighted with evidence. Thereafter, presentations were made on the science of genome editing and the worldwide evolving experiences of regulating genome editing in agriculture. Topics on environmental and food safety risk assessment and on Malawi’s preparedness for the upcoming UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) were also presented and discussed.

Genome editing holds great promise to deliver high-yielding crop varieties that withstand various stresses such as droughts, floods, insect pests, or diseases and that possess quality traits for use as food, feed, or for processing. A few countries in Africa, namely Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria, have produced guidelines that help regulate genome-edited crops that would facilitate the in-country development or the introduction, testing, and commercialization of genome-edited crop varieties developed elsewhere.

The launching of the three guidelines, on the second day, was presided over by the Honorable Eisenhower Nduwa Mkaka, MP, Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change. In his opening remarks, he appreciated AUDA-NEPAD for supporting the launching and the sensitization events and the development, along with other partners, of the guidelines. He encouraged participants to keep the momentum up to enable Malawi to continue adopting safe and beneficial biotech, including genome editing, to spur agricultural development and economic growth. Remarks were delivered by the AUDA-NEPAD, by the Program for Biosafety Systems, and by the Principal Secretary for Natural Resources and Climate Change. An Overview of Biosafety Guidelines that were launched was subsequently presented by Dr. Lilian Chimphepo, Principal Environmental Officer and the Biosafety Focal Person of the Environmental Affairs Department.