Inclusive innovation in crop gene editing for smallholder farmers: Status and approaches

Abstract

Gene editing technologies like CRISPR/Cas are breathing new life into expectations about the benefits of genetically modified crops for smallholder farmers in the global South. In this article, we put these expectations to the test. We have interrogated both whether crop gene editing is employed for smallholder farmers and how this is done in ways that are more or less inclusive. To this end, we systematically investigated projects using gene editing for smallholder farmers and analyzed their activities using the framework of inclusive innovation. We have 3 main findings. First, gene editing indeed can be used to target crops and traits that may benefit smallholder farmers. We found 30 projects that target a variety of crops and traits for smallholders. Second, the use of gene editing for smallholder farmers is emerging slowly at best. The number of projects is relatively small, the set of crops that is targeted is relatively limited, and the number of countries that engage in these activities is small. And third, we found 2 distinct approaches to inclusive innovation that we describe as spacecraft approach and helicopter approach to inclusive innovation. We argue that the inclusive innovation framework should not be used as a checkbox—where inclusion is achieved if all types of inclusion are covered—but instead should be used as a tool for rendering visible the choices that have been made in inclusion, thus opening up such choices for critical scrutiny.