July 31, 2010

Source: Plant Breeding News Edition 215

A three-week long (June 28 - July 16, 2010) Biotechnology School which brought together 24 participants from 7 countries for training in Genotyping and Phenotyping Plant Genetic Resources at the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) has ended successfully. The workshop funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, was a collaboration between WACCI, the Biotechnology Centre of the University of Ghana and the Institute of Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics, University of Hohenheim, Germany. In an opening address, the Director of WACCI, Prof. Eric Danquah, lamented the deteriorating quality of postgraduate education in the Sciences in most of sub-Saharan Africa due to inadequate funding. He intimated that the state of food insecurity in the sub-region was partly due to weak infrastructure and low prioritization of research and development. He emphasized that the Biotech School had been designed to correlate laboratory results in biotechnology with results from fieldwork to ensure that research results do not remain in the laboratory as in the past, but are taken to the doorstep of the farmer, following validation on research plots. He thanked the collaborators and the funding agency, and also expressed the hope that more collaborative ventures will be undertaken in the future.

Experts from Ghana, Germany, the USA, the UK and Tunisia taught theoretical and practical modules in advanced genetics, crop genomics and molecular approaches in crop breeding. Instructors for the three-week workshop included:

• Dr. Bettina I.G. Haussmann, Principal Scientist, International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Niamey, Niger.
• Professor Philip White, (Head), Environmental Plant Interactions Programme, Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI), Dundee, Scotland
• Professor Khaled Masmoudi, (Head), Plant Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Centre of Biotechnology, Sfax, Tunisia
• Dr. Heiko Kurt Parzies, (Senior Scientist), Institute of Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics, University of Hohenheim, Germany
• Dr. Jacquelyn Renae Jackson, (Research Assistant Professor), Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Natural Sciences , Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL, USA

Some of the participants had this to say;

Vivian Oduro, Ghana: "It was just excellent! We had quality information that would carry us throughout our career. Well done WACCI".

Obitoye Dorcas Olubunmi, Nigeria: "The training was excellent, eye-opening and very interesting. The information given was so accurate and up to date. The organizers were warm, welcoming and approachable. It was indeed an international workshop. Keep up the good work, WACCI".

Leiser Willmar Lukas, Germany: "Wunderbar! Amazing time in Ghana. Very interesting, well organised workshop with great cultural exchange by both instructors and participants. Thanks for the nice time".

Establishment of WACCI

The WACCI (www.wacci.edu.gh) was established in the University of Ghana (UG) in June, 2007 with funding from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to train 40 plant breeders, arriving in 5 cohorts of eight students each, at the PhD level. WACCI was conceived from a partnership between the University of Ghana (UG) and Cornell University to address the critical shortage of plant breeders in the West and Central Africa sub-region. The aim is to equip the next generation of plant breeders with the necessary knowledge and skills required for the improvement of indigenous crops that feed the peoples of the West and Central Africa regions. The PhD programme is a 5-year fully funded course. Students undertake two year of coursework at the UG and three years of field research at the students‘ home institution. In the first year, students take 10 courses, five per semester. The second year involves advanced modular courses delivered by selected experts from around the globe to give students exposure in practical issues that would confront them in their research. WACCI is committed to developing the human capacity necessary for the realisation of AGRA‘s dream of an African green revolution. Currently in the third year, WACCI has enrolled 28 students from Mali, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Niger, Burkina Faso and Kenya. The Centre obtained additional funds from the Generation Challenge Programme (GCP) in April, 2008 to support 4 more students.

WACCI‘s core aspiration of training world class problem solving plant breeders for the West African region to aid in increasing the pace of the release and adoption of nutritious and high yielding local crop staples can be realised efficiently if WACCI collaborates with advanced institutions worldwide. Planned activities of the Centre include networking and integration of students into other training programmes in advanced laboratories across the globe for internships and long distance mentoring.

Contact Eric Danquah edanquah@wacci.edu.gh for link opportunities.

Website: http://www.ug.edu.gh

Published: August 1, 2010