AFRICANCROPS.NET

  A Website on Improvement of African Crops and Seed Systems

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• Dr Akin Adesina Named as Vice President (Policy & Partnerships) of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Full story

• Policy Brief: Promoting a Strong Seed Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa (N. Minot, IFPRI)

• African Agricultural Technology Foundation to develop drought-tolerant maize varieties for small-scale farmers in Africa (AATF Website)

• Putting Biotechnology to Economic Use in Africa (Business Daily)

• US$5 million Grant from AGRA to the University of Ghana, Legon for a West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (Ghanaian Chronicle)

• "Benefits and Limits of an Important Biotech Tool", an Interview about Marker-Assisted Selection with Shivaji Pandey of FAO's Working Group on Biotechnology (FAO Newsrom)

• Kofi Annan, AGRA Leader Meets the Press and Roots for the Green Revolution (Daily Nation)

• AGRA Board Chair, Kofi Annan Meets Kenyan President and Farmers  (East African Standard)

• NERICA Contributes to Record Rice Harvest in Africa (WARDA)

• Scientists Develop Varieties Resistant to Cassava Brown Streak Disease (IITA)

• Maize Seed Launched to Resist Striga (Bob Wayne Bell Jr., Business Daily). Additional Reading

• Commercial Release of Striga Resistant Maize in Kenya (ACNS)

• Public Breeding Produces New Maize Varieties for Kenyan Farmers (ACNS)

• IRRI’s Copyright Policy to Facilitate Free Exchange of Information (IRRI)

• Nematode Resistant Bananas Developed (GEN)

• Researcher Reports New Cowpea Germplasm Screening Technique (Crop Biotech Update)

• An Effective Strategy for Increasing Carbohydrate Yields in Sink Tissues of Cassava (Ihemere et al., Plant Biotechnology Journal)

• Students Create Plant That Glows When Thirsty (Reuters)

• African Agricultural Capital in $7m Plan to Fund Seed Production in East Africa (AllAfrica.com)

• Arabidopsis Made Salt Tolerant (ISAAA)

• CIMMYT Announces 26 New I-R Maize Hybrids. See also Hybrid Data

• CIMMYT Ready to Deploy IR Maize Technology to Seed Producers

Online Resources Update | Archives

• Summary of the Ninth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Earth Negotiations Bulletin)

• New open-access teaching modules for plant disease epidemiology

• Distribution Maps of Plant Diseases (CABI)

• The Role of Non-GM Biotechnology in Developing World Agriculture (Zephaniah Dhlamini)

• Atlas on Sorghum Production in Eastern Africa (INTSORMIL)

• Bibliographies on Sorghum biotechnology, pathology, breeding, etc. (INTSORMIL)

• Global Seed Market Valued at $17 Billion (Ag Weekly)

• Acquisition and Use of CIMMYT Maize Open-Pollinated Varieties and Hybrids (CIMMYT)

• African Crops Website, Message Board and News Service Brochure

• GCP Project on Cassava Brings State-of-the-Art Technologies to Africa. Full story

• Inter-specific Populations and Identification of Resistant Lines to Drought under Rainfed Lowland Conditions in Mali. Read more

• A Forced Abrupt End to Food Dependency-Implications of High Oil Prices, Jonathan Gressel

• Technology Tip: Processing Large Images

• Download: Economic Impact of Transgenic Crops in Developing Countries (Current Opinion in Biotechnology)

• Maize streak Virus: Description and Control of Diseases Caused by the Virus (Molecular and Cell Biology Dept., University of Cape Town)

African Crops of Interest

AGRA supports research and development of leading African crops including banana, beans, cassava, maize, rice, sorghum, millet and cowpea. Work involves developing varieties that are high-yielding, early maturing and resistant to pests, disease and tolerant to drought.  More description of the research interests by crop is available at this link.

Research & Information Resources

• New Platform. Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB). Website

• Teaching Tools. New Open-access Teaching Modules for Plant Disease Epidemiology. DetailsGCP Call for Proposals for Genotyping Support Service

• Institute for Genomic Diversity (IGD) conducts research and training in genetic diversity, plant genomics, biodiversity and food security

• Research Abstracts in Biotechnology, Breeding and Seed Systems for African Crops, 2005

• Free & Full Text Scientific Journals  

• Plant Virology in Sub-Saharan Africa  

• Valuable CIAT e-Journal Collection  

• Crop-specific databases and information 

• Genomics, tools and literature search 

• Plant breeding resources

• Career and research opportunities  

• Educational and research centres

• Daily Agricultural News from around Africa

Scientific Journal TOCs Update

Full Text Access - Current Issues

• Plant Physiology

• The Plant Cell

• International Journal of Biological Sciences

TOCs and Abstracts Only - Current Issues

• Crop Protection

• Cell Biology

• Plant Pathology Journal

• Journal of Biological Sciences

Research/Conferences/Scholarships

• PhD Research Student Required for Developing Maize Varieties using Molecular Markers. DetailsNew

• Pioneer–GCP Fellowship in plant breeding and genetics. Apply by 30 November 2008. Details

• Tropical Crop Biotechnology Conference 22-25 July 2009. Announcement

• African Scientists Fellowship Programme

• Post-doctoral programme on molecular characterisation at Huazhang Agricultural University  

• Austrian Development Cooperation Scholarships: Apply for MSc, PhD and Research scholarships by 31 December 2008. See details

• Plant Abiotic Stress Tolerance Conference, Vienna, Austria, 8-11 February, 2009. Announcement

• Research Grant Opportunities for Young Researchers from Developing Countries by IFS