Feeding the world's 8.5 billion population by 2030 will require improved, sustainable production systems and produce more nutritious foods for the world's most vulnerable populations in the face of climate change. Genome editing is a cost- and time-effective solution that can strategically complement conventional breeding and accelerate the development of new crop varieties. CGIAR has recently embarked on a pilot research initiative to accelerate crop improvement through genome editing and support activities to enable their socio-environments to allow access to the technology. This pilot initiative is supported by ACIAR, FCDO, USAID, and BMGF. Here, we will highlight an example of CGIAR efforts with our collaborative partners to develop edited lines for rice and bananas with enhanced resistance to various biotic stresses or improved quality. In rice, the introduction of novel traits was achieved either by gain-of-function through insertion/deletion in the exon region of the target genes, multiple promoter editing, or replacement of susceptible alleles with resistance alleles through prime editing technology in elite cultivars or breeding lines. However, innovation alone will not be enough to ensure the adoption of this technology to realize genome editing's potential to address relevant global south agriculture challenges. Therefore, CGIAR is working with ARIs and NARS to develop capacity in the global south and promote equitable access, research spillovers, and technology adoption.