Eight West African Students to Begin Elite Studies at West Africa Centre
for Crop
Improvement to Discover New Ways to Improve African Crops
Accra, Ghana (12 March 2008) - The first eight doctoral candidates sponsored
by the Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa (AGRA) will be entering their advanced studies at the
University of Ghana, Legon, hoping to discover new ways to improve crops
across West Africa, officials announced today at a ceremony inaugurating
the program.
Prof. Eric Danquah, director of the university's West Africa Centre for
Crop Improvement (WACCI), said that the first class of elite students sends
a message of hope across the region as well as establishing a groundwork
for
building a new generation of African scientists-a critical piece in the
efforts to stop the "brain drain" of African researchers leaving the continent
for the developed world.The eight were chosen from a pool of several hundred
applicants.
"We were extraordinarily impressed with the qualifications of all the applicants,
and specifically the eight
who were chosen," Danquah said. "I look forward to guiding them through
world-class agricultural science studies that will, however, focus on indigenous
crops that will help the African farmer improve yields.
"Dr. Joe DeVries, head of AGRA's seed program, said that the students represent
a diversity of interests as well as countries. They come from five West
African nations - Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria - and are
studying seven different types of crops - cassava, cowpea, maize, millet,
rice, sorghum, and sweet potato.
And each, he said,hold dreams of helping farmers in their countries as well
as improving the quality of food for all.
"One essential part of this program is that the researchers have not only
committed to two years of study at
the University of Ghana, but also will then go back to their countries for
three years to put in practice what they learned in the classrooms and laboratories,"
DeVries said. "These students represent the narrowing of the gap in scientific
capacity to improve and adapt the crops needed to address Africa's specific
food needs. We at AGRA
are proud to support this program at the University of Ghana."Also speaking
at the ceremony in Accra were
officials from the Ghana Ministry of Education, the University of Ghana,
and Ghana's Forum for Agricultural
Research in Africa (FARA).
In a speech read for him by Dr. Rexford Osei, the minister of education,
science and sports Honorable Prof.
Dominic Fobih said, "It is welcome news that AGRA has worked for the establishment
of this centre of excellence for training world-class plant breeders. The
establishment of this centre of excellence is in line with the African Union
(AU) and NEPAD Science and Technology Initiatives as outlined in the AU's
Consolidated Plan of Action evolved by the African Ministerial Council on
Science and Technology.
"AGRA's partnership with the University of Ghana, Legon, as well as the
University of KwaZulu-Natal, is envisioned to train 120 promising African
plant breeders into PhD scientists over the next decade through studies
in Ghana and South Africa. In the end, these crop scientists will help to
create the critical mass of knowledge about breeding African-based crops
that is needed to end food crises on the continent. The students will enroll
in
either the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) at the University
of Ghana, or in the African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI) at the University
of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
The program in Ghana will recruit students from western and central Africa,
while the South Africa initiative will take students from eastern and southern
Africa. The program will cost US $13 million, and is just one of AGRA's
new programs to address hunger and poverty on the continent.
AGRA seeks to build partnerships and work across Africa to help millions
of small-scale farmers and their families
end poverty and hunger. It develops practical solutions to significantly
boost farm productivity and incomes for
the poor while also safeguarding the environment. AGRA's work addresses
the changes needed across all key aspects of the agricultural "value chain"—from
seeds, soil health, and water to markets, policy and agricultural education.
In addition to supporting the Ph.D programs, AGRA's work in education will
include educating hundreds of
students at a Masters level, and strengthening a gricultural extension systems–
those national programs that send trained agriculturalists to work with
farmers in their fields.
AGRA's impact will be felt on a broad spectrum of Africans, primarily the millions of subsistence farmers, who are mostly women, and who need to be lifted out of poverty.