Sustainable intensification of agriculture is paramount for ensuring food and nutritional security while
mitigating the effects of climate change. Closing the yield gap in staple crops is crucial to meet the
demands of a growing population. To achieve this, more efficient food production methods are
necessary. Utilizing all available tools, including modern biotechnology, is imperative for crop
improvement. New breeding techniques like genome editing, particularly CRISPR/Cas-based editing,
offer significant advantages. CRISPR/Cas-based genome editing has rapidly become the most
prevalent genetic engineering approach for developing improved crop varieties because of its
simplicity, efficiency, specificity, and easy to use. Genome editing improves crop variety by
modifying its endogenous genome free of any foreign gene. Consequently, genome-edited crops with
no foreign gene integration are not regulated as genetically modified organisms in several countries.
Researchers are using CRISPR/Cas-based genome editing to improve several staple crops for biotic
and abiotic stress resistance and improved nutritional quality. There is a need to create an enabling
environment with science-based regulatory guidelines to release and adopt the products developed
using genome editing. A synopsis of recent advancements in the application of genome editing for
crop improvement, illustrated with banana as an example, will be presented during this seminar.