Engineering crop genomes: Implications for increasing food security and addressing the relevant sustainable development goals in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces persistent challenges of food insecurity, poverty, malnutrition, and heightened vulnerability to climate change. Although agriculture employs over 60% of the region's labor force, productivity remains low due to reliance on rain-fed systems, limited inputs, and constraints imposed by pests, diseases, abiotic stresses, and inadequate access to improved and climate-resilient crop varieties. These challenges continue to impede progress toward the achievement of food security and other relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Transgenic and genome editing technologies present viable tools to engineer crop genomes for enhanced agricultural productivity, food security, resilience, and sustainability in SSA. This review evaluates the current status of transgenic and genome editing crop development across the region, presenting country-specific examples spanning research efforts, confined field trials, multi-location testing, and commercial deployment. It examines the contributions of transgenic and genome-edited crops to priority SDGs, including poverty alleviation, food and nutritional security, public health, economic growth, innovation, and climate adaptation. Public perceptions, socio-economic considerations, and governmental positions influencing the adoption of transgenic and genome editing technologies are critically assessed. In addition, the review analyzes the evolving regulatory and policy landscape, emphasizing the need for transparent, science-based, and harmonized biosafety frameworks. The review concludes by examining the capacity-building efforts and science communication initiatives, alongside future perspectives for the responsible deployment of transgenic and genome editing technologies in sub-Saharan Africa, to increase food security and support relevant SDGs.