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November 30, 2007
Source:
CropBiotech Update
The West Africa Biosciences
Network (WABNet), one of the NEPAD Biosciences initiatives in
Africa, has put in place plans to improve sorghum breeding in
West Africa in particular and Africa in general. At a recent
workshop held in Dakar, Senegal, an implementation plan was
drawn and resources were allocated to various laboratories to
work on the inventory and characterization of West Africa
sorghum genetic resources. This will be funded by the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA) as part of its funding
for the Africa Biosciences Initiatives.
The project has the support of the African Ministerial Council
on Science and Technology (AMCOST) currently chaired by Kenya’s
Science and Technology Minister Noah Wekesa. Senegalese Minister
for Scientific Research Yaye Gassama Dia urged the experts to
ensure that all stakeholders such as community- based
organizations, processors, policy makers and the media were
involved in finding solutions to the breeding and utilization
problems facing sorghum, which she described as an important
food security crop in the sub-region. WABNet Director, Prof
Diran Makinde, said that West Africa was sorghum's center of
origin hence the need to ensure that it was conserved and
improved using the best available science. The experts also
formed a Sorghum Breeders’ Forum whose first tasks are to
compile a database of sorghum breeders and help in
knowledge-sharing.
For more information contact
Prof Diran Makinde
or Daniel Otunge of the
International Service for the
Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) AfriCenter. |
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