home news forum careers events suppliers solutions markets expos directories catalogs resources advertise contacts
 
Forum Page

Forum
Forum sources  
All Africa Asia/Pacific Europe Latin America Middle East North America
  Topics
  Species
 

Sustaining the training of plant breeders for Africa - The latest crop of plant breeders graduates from the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) at the University of Ghana


August 2015

Source: AGRA Havest, August edition

Another set of ten PhD students graduated in Plant Breeding at the University of Ghana end of last month. This brings to 28 the total number of doctoral students trained in plant breeding at the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI). The Centre currently has 53 other students studying at various stages of the PhD program, to provide solutions to challenges limiting the work of smallholder farmers.

“The ten students underwent quality plant breeding education, and undertook quality research in their home countries on crops of their own choice. They are expected to go back to their home countries to continue to work to solve problems on the same crops, and use their new knowledge to identify and develop other new crops for their countries ─ crops which will stand the challenges that limit productivity,” said Professor Eric Danquah, Director of the Centre.

The students graduated at a time when smallholder farmers in their various countries are in dire need of resilient crop varieties to fight the challenges of low yields, pests, and drought, in order to increase productivity and incomes.

“For AGRA, WACCI is doing an excellent job in training the students. They come into the program as just students, but leave as leaders in whatever they do. We’ve seen a lot of them in the field; they are actually gaining a lot of respect not only from their governments, but from farmers and the people around. These students do not only reach thousands of farmers, but they also raise a lot of money for their research stations to continue research,” said Rufaro M. Madakadze, AGRA’s Program Officer for Education and Training.

The students, who graduated this year include: Joseph Adjebeng-Danquah, Liliane Ngoune Tandzi, Oumarou Souleymane, Ernest Barfi, Laouali Nasser Mahamane, Joseph Benoit Teyioue Batieno, Alice Jelimo Kosgei, Kenneth Fafa Egbadzor, Apala Noelle Mafouasson Hortense, and Muhammad Lawan Umar.

“One advantage of the WACCI program is that it is training African students in Africa on African crops for Africa, and solving a big human capacity challenge,” Professor Danquah said.

Already products of the Centre are making a lot of impact in many research centres across West Africa. In Niger, for instance, WACCI’s first female graduate, Dr. Aissata Mahamadou, is currently Head of the Sorghum Improvement Program at (INRAN), the national research Centre, and working on high-yielding and stable sorghum hybrids to meet the needs of farmers. In Mali, Dr. Mamadou Mory Coulibaly of the Institut d’Economie Rurale (IER) has developed a maize variety, Tieba, which is early maturing, high-yielding, drought tolerant ready to be taken to scale across the Sahel region. Several others are working on various crops across the region. The need then arises about the sustainability of the program.

“Though AGRA’s initial funding will end in December 2017, we can see sustainability in the horizon,” Professor Danquah confirmed to the media.

 Many students from various countries are showing increasing interest to undertake the course on their own funds or funds sourced from their home institutions and Governments. All 15 students of the current first year students − the biggest PhD class in Plant Breeding in Africa ─ are on non-AGRA grants.

For its great work, WACCI won a World Bank award − The Africa Centres of Excellence Grant ─ of US$ 8 million  to strengthen the capacity to deliver a world-class platform for training Plant Breeders for the whole of Africa. Various strategic steps are also being taken to make the program sustainable, due to its great impact on agriculture technologies, productivity, and farmer incomes across the region and beyond.



More news from:
    . AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa)
    . West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI)
    . University of Ghana


Website: http://www.agra-alliance.org

Published: August 31, 2015



SeedQuest does not necessarily endorse the factual analyses and opinions
presented on this Forum, nor can it verify their validity.


Copyright @ 1992-2024 SeedQuest - All rights reserved