The Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI) of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) has introduced and educated farmers on genome editing technology as it makes progress in promoting sustainable agriculture in the country.

The technology is to aid farmers to produce crops according to their desires and market suitability rather than doing it by chance. Genome editing, also called gene editing, is a group of technologies that give scientists the ability to change an organism's DNA or genes.

The technologies allow genetic material to be added, removed or altered at particular locations in the genome.

Slightly different from grafting and totally different from genetically modified organism (GMO), the process is conducted in a laboratory certified by the National Biosafety Authority as a "level two containment facility" because of the nature of the manipulation.

Centre

Explaining the process to the Daily Graphic in Accra last Wednesday at a public lecture on the science of genome editing, the Centre Manager, Plant Disease Research Centre, Dr Andrew Sarkodie Appiah, said the genetic makeup or the DNA of the plant was targeted with molecular scissors with the intention of cutting into two the undesirable portions, and allowed to be "repaired or healed" naturally to get the desired result.

For instance, he said, if a farmer wanted a tall crop to be short, the gene was targeted, cut into two with the molecular scissors, and allowed to repair to get the desired outcome.

In the same vein, if an animal is susceptible to a particular disease, the genes which make it attractive to that disease is dealt with in the same way to make it resilient to the disease.

Dr Appiah, known as one of the experts in the field, said unlike GMO where external materials were introduced, in the case of genome, everything was internalised.

"It is done under strict guidelines in a certified laboratory under an approved temperature," he said.

A Professor of the African Genome Centre of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco, Valentine Otang Ntui, centred his presentation on the engineering advances, and highlighted the advantages in genome engineering.

He said the technology could complement targeted nucleases for synthetic biology and gene therapy.

Prof. Ntui, a Nigerian working to enhance the technology on the continent, expressed the hope of Africa's readiness to embrace the technology and turn the continent’s economic fortunes around.

Farmers

BNARI has said it is rolling out similar programmes to explain the technicalities to relevant stakeholders for better understanding.