Nairobi, Kenya
September 15, 2008
Source:
Africa Science
News Service
Written by George Kebasso
The Kenya government has commissioned a $500,000-worth of Maize
Stress Screening Site at the Kenya
Agricultural Research Institute (KARI).
The centre, located at the Kiboko Sub centre in Kibwezi and home
to the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project was
launched just a day after reports pointed out that thousands of
people from Eastern province may be under an imminent
starvation.
Funded jointly by the Bill & Melinda Gates and the Howard G.
Buffet Foundations, the project through which KARI and the
International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) are collaborating, has witnessed
the development of 10 maize varieties.
Scientists from the KARI and CIMMYT and the
International Crops Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), using
conventional breeding technologies have developed eight open
pollinated varieties (OPVs) and two hybrids namely; KVD1, KVD2,
KVD3, KVD4, KVD5, KVD6, Kakamega Synthetic and Kakamega 2. The
hybrids are; KDH3 and KDH4.
The project also houses the Open Quarantine site for Genetically
Modified Crops on an isolated extra 40 acres of land.
It will allow breeders to test more than 3,000 new maize
varieties for drought tolerance every year.
“The work here promises to make locally-adapted, drought
tolerant maize varieties a reality for many more farmers in
Kenya and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa,” CIMMYT Regional
Maize Breeder, Alpha Diallo told Africa Science News Serice
during the commissioning of the Site which is served by a 10,000
cubic metres capacity water reservoir.
The site will also be used as a training center for maize
breeders, technicians, and students from African countries.
“Our goal is to have this Sub centre grow to host a facility
that will be used by scientists, locally and internationally. We
aim to host students who would like to undertake strategic
research towards solving the problems of a farmer,” KARI
Director, Dr Ephraim Mukisira says.
It recently served as the venue for part of a course for maize
breeders from 15 African nations organized by CIMMYT, the
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and
KARI.
Several researchers from Asia have already indicated their
interest to learn from the research that is being conducted at
this site. KARI and CIMMYT are convinced that the station is
indeed the opening of one of the premier drought research sites
around the world.
The DTMA project has a ten-year strategic vision of success
within which it aims to: generate maize varieties with strongly
increased yields under drought-affected conditions; increase
average maize productivity under smallholder farmer conditions
by 20-30 per cent on adopting farms and reach 30-40 million
farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.
“This new varieties are high yielding; they are developed
specifically to help farmers harvest early to escape a late
drought. In fact they are 25-40 per cent high yield than what
farmers used to grow here,” said Diallo.
Indeed, farmers and communities from all over the continent
provide systematic input to ensure that the endeavor will become
successful.
Kiboko represents an investment in science, in collaboration, in
development, and a future where African maize farmers can stop
thinking about high food prices as a "crisis," and begin to see
them as an opportunity to grow and sell more maize, helping
their families to a better life. To do so, they deserve—and
should demand—our best efforts!
It will allow breeders to test more than 3,000 new maize
varieties for drought tolerance every year. |
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