Ten students at the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) have presented their PhD research proposals. The students who enrolled in January 2010 have successfully completed the first phase of their five year PhD programme, which comprised course work in Plant Breeding, Genetics, Biotechnology and other related subjects, and special topics delivered by guest lecturers in the second year. They now return to their home institutions to conduct their thesis research.
Present at the proposal seminars were management and staff of WACCI, associate faculty, in-country supervisors from students’ home institutions, students of WACCI, and two external assessors, Dr. Melaku Gedil, Head IITA Bioscience Centre Molecular Geneticist/Breeder, Ibadan, Nigeria and Dr. George Craig  Yencho, Professor and Programme leader,  North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA.
At the end of the presentations the following had this to say:

• Dr. Rufaro Madakadze, Education Officer, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

“I am indeed impressed by the performance of the students, particularly, how well the francophone students have been able to present in English. Knowing how low their English proficiency was, I think WACCI deserves a lot of credit”

• Dr. Jacob MbuaNgeve, Chief Research Scientist in Annual Crops, Genetics and Pathology, Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD),Cameroon.

“The standard of the presentations have been very high and I commend WACCI for the excellent training programme”

The Director of WACCI, in his closing remarks commended the students for the good presentations and encouraged them to continue to work hard to ensure that they meet the completion deadline.

Mr. Ernest Baafi, the class representative expressed appreciation to all who had contributed to the success of the first phase of their PhD programme. He assured management of their commitment to work hard and return in the last quarter of their fifth year with excellent theses.

The thesis areas for the students’ research projects are:

• Genetic analysis of drought  tolerance and Macrophomina resistance in Cowpea - Joseph Batieno, INERA, Burkina Faso
• Genetic studies of physiological and morphological traits associated with drought tolerance in cassava genotypes - Joseph Adjebeng-Danquah, SARI-CSIR, Ghana
• Combining ability and heterosis for grain yield and drought tolerance in tropical yellow maize -  Laouali Mahamane Nasser, INRAN, Niger
• Genetic studies of grain quality traits of cowpea  -  Muhammad Lawan Umar, Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria
• Genetic analysis of maize tolerance to low soil nitrogen - Hortense  Apala Mafouasson, IRAD, Cameroon
• Development of high-yielding and stable maize hybrids tolerant to acid soils of the tropical humid forest zones - Liliane Ngoune Tandzi, IRAD, Cameroon
• Breeding rice (Oryza sativa L.) for salt tolerance in Niger- Oumarou Souleymane, INRAN, Niger
• Genetic analysis of drought tolerance in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)- Kosgei Alice Jelimo, Embu, Agricultural Staff Training College, Kenya
• Genetic variability and selection gain in end-user-traits of sweet potato in Ghana - Ernest Baafi, CRI-CSIR, Ghana
• Development of drought tolerant maize hybrids for the drought- prone environment of Nigeria -Kabeya, C. Uzoma, NIHORT, Nigeria