Plant breeding Academy opens #Kenya

Researchers from the University of
California, Davis and their global partners from
the African Orphan Crops Consortium have
opened the African Plant Breeding Academy in
Kenya to focus on traditional crops that have
been neglected for having lower economic
priority.
The academy located at the World Agroforestry
Centre in Gigiri plans to sequence, assemble and
annotate the genomes of 100 traditional African
food crops to guide development of vegetables,
fruits and other agricultural products that are
more robust and nutritious.
The project is intended to help eliminate hunger
and malnutrition, which frequently causes
physical stunting and incomplete neurological
development among children in rural Africa.
It is designed to improve the livelihood and health
of Africa's 600 million smallholder farmers and
their families.
Over five years, the academy will train 250 plant
breeders and technicians in genomics and
market-assisted selection.
The work will drive production of improved
crops, which will then be shared with smallholder
farmers throughout the continent.
It will also provide scientists and technicians with
a dedicated place to apply genomic tools to
facilitate development of food crops that have
higher nutritional value and can better withstand
climate changes, pests and disease.
Among the crops under review at the academy
include the baobab tree, which can be used to
make a dried fruit powder for consumer
products and has 10 times the antioxidant level of
oranges and four times more potassium than a
banana.
It also has antiviral properties and is gluten free.
By sharing knowledge of the genome sequences
of baobab and other African crops, scientists and
technicians working at the academy will inform
plant breeders and farmers of species varieties
that are more nutritious, hardier and more
productive.
The data derived from this collaborative effort will
be made publicly available, with the endorsement
of the African Union, through a process managed
by the Public Intellectual Property Resource for
Agriculture.
Kenya