Training a New Generation of African Plant Breeders at the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI)

Eric. Y. Danquah University of Ghana [email protected]

2012 NAPB/PBCC Annual Meeting “Sustaining Life through Plant Improvement, August 6 - 8, 2012, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Greetings from Ghana “A COUNTRY AT PEACE WITH ITSELF AND THE REST OF THE WORLD”

President John Mahama

Outline Context  The Challenge: Food Insecurity & Weak Institutions

The Promise  The West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI)    

Conception & Establishment Vision Programme Structure Our Students, Research Areas & Facilities

 Other donor-sponsored programmes

Looking Ahead  Partnerships and Sustainability

The Challenge: Food Insecurity in SSA Low Breeding Capacity

Brain Drain

Poor soils Low yielding varieties

Minimal use of external inputs Biotic and Abiotic Stresses Pre and post harvest losses

Low Productivity

Food Insecurity

No. of breeders below critical level Poor Institutional Structures

Africa has 33 of the world’s 49 least developed countries (LDCs) and almost half the continent, more than half a billion people, live in extreme poverty.

Yield increases in some food crops in Ghana following investments 14 12

t/ha

10 8 6

Start of project

4

End of project

2 0

Food Crops Development Project (2001-2007) Root and Tuber Improvement Programme (1999-2005)

Sorghum Hybrid Quadruple Yields in Mali Average Yields of Sorghum in Mali (t/ha)

3.5

1.3433 0.8454

0.8392

0.8262

Local Variety (2005)

Local Variety (2006)

Local Variety (2007)

1.0365

Local Variety (2008)

Local Variety (2009)

Hybrid Variety

Sorghum hybrids developed in Mali to quadruple harvests following support from AGRA

Source: http://www.agraalliance.org/section/people/stories

Hybrid maize developed in Mali On the left, a local landrace variety in Mali

On the right a new, hybrid maize variety developed by CIMMYT with PASS funding.

Number of Plant Breeders in selected countries in West Africa 58 50

30 22 17 4 Ghana

17

15

17 12

5 Burkina Faso

4 3

11

13 12 13

6

Niger BSc

Source: GIPB (http://km.fao.org)

Nigeria MSc

PhD

Mali

Cameroon

Average farm size and yields of eight major crops in northern Ghana (Quaye, 2008) 2.995

0.7 0.587

Sorghum

0.93 1.024

Maize

0.79

0.71

0.494

Millet

0.437

Rice

Farm Size (Ha)

0.79

Yam

0.59 0.734

0.53 0.456

Groundnut

Cowpea

Average Yield (t/ha)

Number of plant breeders at CSIR, Ghana 6 4

3

BSc

Source: MIS, CSIR, 2011

10 8

MSc

MPhil

Highest Degree

PhD

0.75

0.46

Soyabean

Agricultural Education in sub-Saharan Africa

Makerere University Kampala, Uganda Established in 1922

University of Ghana Legon, Ghana Established in 1948

University of Ibadan Ibadan, Nigeria Established in 1948

The University of Ghana

 The leading university in the West Africa sub-

region But,  Graduated 16 PhD students in Agriculture in the last 15 years (None in Plant breeding)

Standards in Agricultural Education deteriorated between 1970 and the mid-1990s

Poor Structures

Low staff morale Weak postgraduate programmes

Problems

Inadequate funds to support research

effect Brain drain

A new generation of plant breeders trained in West & Central Africa (May, 2006) Welltrained

Focus On WA Crops

Plant Breeder

Team Player

Strategic Thinker

New varieties

Result Driven

An African Green Revolution

West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement UG

Established in June, 2007 to train 40 plant breeders over a 10-year period (AGRA-PASS grant); additional GCP grant to train 4 students (2008)

Inauguration of WACCI, March 12, 2008

Vision

To become the foremost Centre for the training of Plant Breeders for West and Central Africa

The WACCI Programme An innovative 5-year PhD programme Year 1 Foundation courses in plant breeding and related courses at the University of Ghana

WACCI Courses (3 Credits each) First Semester • Plant Microbial Interactions & Control of Plant Diseases • Genetic Improvement of Crop Plants • Integrated Pest Management • Biometry & Research Methods • Plant Genetics Second Semester • Physiology of Environmental Stresses • Plant Virology • Plant & Tissue Culture • Quantitative Inheritance in Plant Breeding • Molecular Genetics & Biotechnology in Plant Breeding

Pre- Enrollment English Proficiency Course for Francophone Students (University of Ghana Language Centre)

Listening and Speaking/Presentation skills class

Reading and Academic Writing class

Year 2 - Visiting Scientists (Advanced Modules) 1 2 5 3

4

11

16

12

6 8 10

13

7 17

9

15 14

17. Dr. Bill Puplampu

Year 2 - Visiting Scientists (Advanced Modules) 1 2 5 3

4

11

16

12

6 8 10

13

7 17

15

9

14

Tissue Culture and Plant Transformation

Seed Business Development|Scientific

| Cassava breeding | 17. Dr. Bill Puplampu Cowpea breeding | Breeding Designs and Striga Resistance | Breeding Sorghum | Vegetable Breeding | Leadership training | SAS | Genetics Data Handling | Marker Assisted Rice Breeding | Molecular markers in maize, sorghum, millet and cowpea Communication and Library Tools

|

|

Breeding Sweet potato

Cornell Faculty participate in proposal reviews via Video Conferencing

Years 3 - 5 Students relocate to their home institutions for PhD research work Students return to WACCI 3-6 months before the end of their 5th year to complete write-up and submit thesis

Focus Crops  Cereals - Maize, Sorghum, Millet & Rice  Roots and tubers - Cassava & Sweet potato  Legumes - Cowpea, Groundnuts & Soybean  Vegetables - Tomato & Pepper Cereals

Roots and tubers

Legumes

Vegetables

Enrollment: 44 PhD students

15 Female (34%) 23 Anglophone (52%) 21 Francophone (48%)

Kenya

Admission Requirements: • an MPhil or MSc. research in Plant Breeding and Genetics or related fields

• a position as an agricultural research scientist in a national research institute or university Age limit: 40 years

Thesis Research Areas of Cohort 1 Students

Maxwel Asante, Ghana, (Quality traits in rice)

Issaka Ahmad, Niger (Downy mildew resistance in hybrid pearl millet)

Mamadou Coulibaly, Mali (Drought tolerance in maize)

Some Koussao, Burkina Faso (High yield and high beta carotene in sweet potato)

Damian Njoku, Nigeria (Enhanced protein and beta carotene content in cassava)

Solomon Ansah Gyan, Ghana (Phosphorus use efficiency in cowpea)

Moses Adebayo, Nigeria (Drought tolerance in maize)

Aissata Mamadou, Niger (High and stable yield in hybrid sorghum)

Partnerships with 15 Institutions GAEC – BNARI, Ghana Crop Services, Ghana CSIR- CRI, Ghana CSIR- PGRRI, Ghana CSIR – SARI, Ghana INERA, Burkina Faso INRAN, Niger IER, Mali ABU, Nigeria NRCRI, Nigeria IITA, Nigeria LAUT, Nigeria

IRAD, Cameroon NIHORT, Nigeria Embu Agricultural Staff Training College, Kenya

Supervisory visits (Research supervision by in-country and WACCI supervisors)

Mentoring

Umar Muhammad Lawan ABU, Nigeria

Joseph Batieno INERA, Burkina Faso

Dr. Jeffrey D. Ehlers, Formerly of UC, Riverside

Fafa Egbazor CSIR-PGRRI, Ghana

Nkoumki Maureen IRAD,Cameroon Salifou Mahamadou, INRAN, Niger

Platform for Networking

1st Cohort

Maxwell Asante , Ghana (Rice)

Mamadou Coulibaly, Mali (Maize)

Edgar Traore, Burkina Faso (Rice)

Oppong Allen, Ghana (Maize)

2nd Cohort

Facilities • High speed internet access and a video conferencing facility • Reference Library • Access to electronic resources (TEEAL & AGORA) and the Mann Library, Cornell University • Access to the Biotechnology Centre, CA&CS, UG

A maize breeding programme • 1,750 hybrids under evaluation • Arrangement with SeedCo, Zimbabwe and local seed companies to test hybrid varieties on-farm in multi locations

Visits to WACCI

Kofi Annan, July 30, 2008

Sir Gordon Conway, November 24, 2011

Lisa Eakman (CCGA ), September 8, 2010

Julie Howard, Robert Bertram and Jerry Glover, USAID, Washington DC, January 13, 2012

AGRA Education and Training subprogrammes

M.Sc. M.Sc. M.Sc. M.Sc. M.Sc.

M.Sc.

Other Donor Sponsored M.Sc. M.Sc. M.Sc. M.Sc. Programmes

M.Sc.

Ph.D.

M.Sc. M.Sc.

200 MSc. students under training 62 graduated

M.Sc. M.Sc.

Ph.D.

ACCI 2008 Graduation, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

PhD

ACCI (AGRA)

MAKERERE UNIVERSITY (RUFORUM)

82 (42 Graduated)

29

23 varieties of maize, beans, groundnuts, cowpeas and cassava released in 6 countries, 85 papers published

Looking Ahead Exploring opportunities for win-win linkages $11.2 m (10.5 yrs)

Advanced Research Institutions (ARIs)

Sub-Regional Organisations (SRO)

GCP $670,000 (6 yrs) USAID $1.2 m?

Other Donors

A critical mass of plant breeders

working with farmers and seed enterprises to develop improved varieties to spark a Green Revolution in West and Central Africa

Advisory Board Dr. Eugene Terry, Senior Technical Advisor, TransFarm Africa, Washington DC (Chairman)

Prof. E.Y. Danquah Member

Prof. R. Coffman Member

Prof. S. K. Offei Member

Prof. M. Laing ACCI Rep.

Dr. R. Madakadze AGRA Rep.

Dr. Joe DeVries AGRA

Prof. V. Gracen Member

41

Our first cohort, March 12, 2008

“By acting now we have a unique opportunity to influence the global food security agenda in 2012 and beyond” Montpellier Panel Report, 2012

Thank you