WABNet to improve Sorghum Breeding in West Africa

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 (diran.makinde@coraf.org or Daniel Otunge (d.tounge@cgiar.org) of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) AfriCenter.