Kenya Strengthens Maize Research Facilities

The Kenya government has commissioned a maize stress screening site at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute’s Kiboko sub-center in Kibwezi. An open quarantine site for genetically modified crops on an isolated 40 acres of land has already been made available. These facilities are envisioned to support the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project jointly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates and the Howard G. Buffet Foundations, and being implemented by KARI and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). The site will also be used as a training center for maize breeders, technicians, and students from African countries.

The DTMA project has a ten-year strategic vision to generate maize varieties with significantly increased yields under drought-affected conditions; increase average maize productivity under smallholder farmer conditions by 20-30 percent on adopting farms and reach 30-40 million farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. “Our goal is to have this sub-center grow to host a facility that will be used by scientists, locally and internationally. We aim to host students who would like to undertake strategic research towards solving the problems of a farmer,” said KARI Director Ephraim Mukisira.

Check out http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=675&Itemid=1 for the press article.