About us
HavAfric is a mission-driven company working to eradicate hunger, malnutrition, and food waste across Africa through the development and supply of climate-smart and resilient seeds produced using CRISPR gene editing technology. We are Africa’s first CRISPR seeds startup working to optimize agricultural production systems on the continent and help ensure sustainable food production.
We aim to become a leading agricultural innovation company in Africa that will be known for pioneering agricultural inventions that transform farming practices and improve food systems. Through private sector-led approaches, we are bringing the CRISPR gene editing technology first developed by Drs. Jennifer Doudna, Emmanuelle Charpentier, and Virginijus Šikšnys into Africa’s food production systems, where it’s needed the most.
CRISPR Gene Editing is a powerful technology that allows scientists to make very precise changes to the DNA of living organisms. Think of it like a super-smart pair of molecular scissors that can cut and paste pieces of DNA, allowing scientists to add, remove, or change specific genes. DNA is the instruction manual for building and running a living thing, so by editing it, scientists can improve or fix certain traits.
In everyday language, CRISPR is a tool that helps us "edit" the genes of plants and animals to help them be healthier, grow better, or fight diseases. It’s a bit like editing a document on your computer—except you're changing the biological instructions inside living things.
For example, scientists could edit a plant's genes so it naturally resists a harmful virus. CRISPR can also help plants grow better and produce more food. For instance, crops can be made to grow faster, be more drought-tolerant, or survive in poorer soils, helping farmers produce more food even in difficult conditions.
CRISPR can be used to increase the nutritional value of crops. And CRISPR-edited plants could be made to require less water or fertilizers, which can have a big positive impact on the environment. This means farming could become more sustainable, using fewer resources and producing less pollution.
Normally, developing new crop varieties through traditional breeding can take many years, but with CRISPR, the process can be much faster. Scientists can quickly introduce beneficial traits like disease resistance, speeding up the development of new crop varieties that can meet global food demands.