Category Archives: Capacity Building

Enhancing sorghum production for an improved economy in South Sudan

Richard Zozimo begins a journey to unlock the knowledge that could transform his country’s most important food crop

With approximately 330,000 square kilometers of land space, is estimated to be suitable for cultivation and 80% of its population living in rural farming communities, South Sudan has the potential to become Africa’s granary.

Sorghum, the fifth most important grain crop in the world, is the country’s most important food staple
and grows in all its agro-ecological zones. Not only does sorghum have the potential to make South
Sudan food secure, but also to make the country a key player in the US$80 billion a year global cereals industry.

South Sudan scientist Richard Zozimo at the BecA-ILRI Hub

Richard Zozimo conducting research at the BecA-ILRI Hub in 2014 (Photo: BecA-ILRI Hub\ Marvin Wasonga)

Richard Opi B. Zozimo, a research assistant at South Sudan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Cooperative and Rural Development has spent six months analyzing the diversity of sorghum landraces in the country. He believes increased investment in research will help his country benefit from this crop.

Zozimo says “Although it is such an important crop to South Sudan, the genetic information of sorghum is not well documented.”

The research which was funded by the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub through its A frica Biosciences Challenge Fund (ABCF) fellowship program revealed that the local varieties of sorghum have genetic markers expressing varied unique genetic traits.

“There are varieties of sorghum in my country with traits that can be harnessed to increase productivity, such as early maturation and the ability to withstand flooding,” stated Zozimo, “my research will help unveil all this information for use in national breeding programs,” he added.

South Sudan’s government is committed to transforming the largely traditional subsistence approach to farming into a market oriented, environmentally sustainable profitable enterprise. With support from programs like the ABCF, national scientists and their collaborators can access the tools necessary to advance agriculture and impact the country’s economy.

Celebrating the woman who inspired me (1) – Judith Francis, connecting people, multiplying potential

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Celebrated by Wellington Ekaya, Senior scientist capacity building at the BecA-ILRI Hub

Judith Ann Francis, the Senior Program Coordinator at Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), The Netherlands (photo credit: CTA)

Judith Ann Francis is the Senior Programme Coordinator, Science and Technology Policy at the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) in the Netherlands.

Judith is one of those people with the unique ability to bring people together, who when connected, achieve much more than they would on their own. She is great at brokering partnerships, identifying opportunities, and fanning a spark into a blazing fire.

Judith has been instrumental in the building capacity of women and young professionals in agriculture through the Africa-wide women and young professionals in science Competition which rewards the contributions of women and young professionals involved in innovative research; communicating their research results and technological developments; and advocating for policy change as well as influencing policy processes through their research. Judith has been my mentor and I truly appreciate her contribution to preparing me to manage the Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund program which provides fellowships to scientists and graduate students from African national agricultural research organizations and universities mentors them to be leaders in biosciences research-for-development.

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Celebrating the woman who inspired me (2) – Anna Nagadya, my inspiration to innovate

Moving on and Up! BecA-ILRI Hub Alumni Samuel Anwenyi gets MSc scholarship

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Samuel Angwenyi, a research assistant attached to the Cornell University component of the BecA-ILRI Hub Capacity and Action for Aflatoxin Reduction in Eastern Africa (CAAREA) project has been awarded a scholarship by The South African Centre for Infectious Diseases Surveillance (SACIDS).

Samuel Angwenyi works in the mycotoxin analysis laboratory at the BecA-ILRI Hub in Nairobi

For the past year, Angwenyi has been conducting analysis on samples collected from field trials to help establish management practices and varieties that could be used to address the issue of aflatoxin contamination in maize.

He left early last week to pursue an MSc in One Health Molecular Biology in Tanzania. The course, whose curriculum has been developed in collaboration with the UK’s London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Royal Veterinary College in London is run by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) Tanzania, in close collaboration with the Schools of Medicine and Public Health of Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS).

Empowering African scientists to solve Africa’s agricultural challenges is central to the Hub’s activities and we provide opportunities for early career African scientists from national agricultural research institutions and universities in the region to work with more experienced mentors for research experience.

Congratulations Samuel Angwenyi, and we look forward to your contributions towards improving food and nutritional security in Africa.

Learning new skills through research at the BecA-ILRI Hub

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By Rodrigue Ayagirwe Basengere, Junior Lecturer, faculty of Agronomy and Environment, Evangelical University of Africa-DRC and MSc Student in Animal Breeding at the University of Dschang, Cameroon

Rodrigues Ayagirwe from DRC gets help from Isaac Macharia of Kenya

Rodrigues Ayagirwe, (center) gets some help from Isaac Macharia (left), a senior researcher at Kenya’s
plant regulatory agency Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) and
Africa Bioscience Challenge Fund (ABCF) fellow

As students conducting research on domestic cavies under the BecA-ILRI Hub project –“Improving production, nutritional protein and household income through increased consumption of domestic cavies”, my colleagues Jeanne Wikondi, Youchahou Poutougnigni and I visited the Hub in Nairobi Kenya to acquire skills in molecular biology.

Everything about, our one month stay at the BecA-ILRI Hub was very exciting, starting with the very warm welcome from the staff members which made me feel right at home. The superb planning and the training we received meant that we could already work in the lab within three days of our arrival.

We brought 109 blood samples from domestic cavies which I had collected from mono-modal agro ecological zone in Cameroon and our main task was to assess the genetic diversity of the cavies in this area.

Aside from having a laboratory technician assigned to assist us, we each received a comprehensive manual which enabled us to work independently and all the equipment and chemicals I needed were readily available.

At the end of every week, I attended a four-hour presentation session where all visiting scientists and ABCF fellows made presentation on the progress of their work. These sessions not only allowed research fellows to talk about the challenges they are facing, but they were also an opportunity for us to give each other suggestions on how better to go about our research.

I am very grateful for the training we received at the BecA-ILRI Hub. Not only were we able to establish the genetic diversity of cavies in our study area, but we also feel confident to give advice to cavy farmers regarding rearing of these species. Most importantly, we have acquired the knowledge and tools necessary to apply molecular biology in our research.

In future, we will try to determine which genes are responsible for desirable traits e.g. coat colour, growth rate and prolificacy. We hope that our findings will contribute to the selection and breeding of cavies for increased productivity.

Mobilizing biosciences for agricultural development – it takes more than technology

BecA – ILRI Hub Blog

Biosciences eastern and central Africa – International Livestock Research Institute