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May
2005 Issue
What is covered in this issue:
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Welcome to the African Crops News Service!
The African Crops News Service will cover
developments in genetic crop improvement issues. The service will contribute
to improved exchange of information on agricultural biotechnology, crop
improvement and seed systems involving African crops. It will compliment the
africancrops.net website and further enhance wider sharing of news and
information from projects supported by The Rockefeller Foundation and those
by other organizations on genetic improvement of African crops. There will
be two issues released per month covering:
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research breakthroughs from principal investigators, research centres and
networks
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announcements for meetings, grants, scholarships, publications, training,
websites, etc
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breaking news on African crops from media organizations from across the
globe
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brief profiles for research projects, departments, organizations, websites
and researchers
The team looks forward to your support and
will depend on you to regularly submit information on your project, news
from your organization, research networks and country for inclusion in
the upcoming issues of the newsletter. Take some time and familiarize
yourself with the africancrops.net website and change your internet
homepage to africancrops.net so that you remain up-to-date with
developments in the improvement of African crops.
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New
Maize Hybrid Released to Fight Striga in Kenya
Striga has invaded
approximately 200,000 hectares of Kenyan cropland resulting in losses of
about KSh 800 million each year. It is a major contributor of food
insecurity among thousands of households in west
Kenya as it causes yield losses of this major staple food crop. To
fight the threat of Striga, the African Agricultural Technology
Foundation (AATF) in partnership with several NGOs, research organizations
and seed companies have introduced a new maize hybrid Ua Kayongo or
Imazapyr Resistance-maize (IR-maize) that is coated with StrigawayTM herbicide that kills Striga. Field
trials and demonstrations have been established to showcase
the efficacy of the technology in the farmers’ fields. Several field days will be conducted to promote the new maize
hybrid in the region. More information is available at
http://www.africancrops.net/striga
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Postgraduate Training Opportunity
The African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI)
based at the
Pietermaritzburg campus of
the
University of KwaZulu-Natal. The centre
trains African plant breeders in Sub-Saharan Africa, on African crops, to
breed better crops using conventional and biotechnological breeding tools
for increased drought tolerance and improved food security for the poor in
Africa.
The
Program is supported by The Rockefeller Foundation. For more information
visit the Program website
www.acci.org.za or contact the Director, Email:
laing@ukzn.ac.za.
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Upcoming
Conferences
5th International Rice Genetics Symposium, 19-23 November 2005, Edsa
Shangri-La,
Manila,
Philippines
7th African Crop Science Society Conference, 5-9 December 2005,
Entebbe, Uganda
International Plant Biotechnology Symposium organized by the East
African Plant Molecular Biologists Network (EAPMBNet), 23-27 October 2005,
Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
International Conference on Agricultural Biotechnology, 6-7 July 2005,
Ravello, Italy
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New
Publication
'Crop
Ferality and Volunteerism’, a book by Jonathan Gressel, Weizmann
Institute of Sciences, Israel.
To view the Table of Contents and to order, visit the publisher’s website:
http://www.crcpress.com/shopping_cart/products/product_contents.asp?id=&parent_
id=1030&sku=2895&pc=
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Scientific Journals Update
The Plant Cell. The May 2005 issue (Vol. 17, No. 5) of The Plant
Cell is out. View Table of Contents and access full text articles at:
http://www.plantcell.org/content/vol17/issue5/?etoc
African Journals Online (AJOL). Did you know that you can access or
order full text articles in 197 scientific journals through the African
Journals Online website,
http://www.ajol.org? AJOL is a database of African-published
journals that gives greater visibility to the participating journals,
and to the research they convey.
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Profile: Africancrops.net Website
Background.
The
africancrops.net, is a website on genetic improvement of African
crops. The website disseminates information on biotechnology, breeding and
seed systems. It was published over the internet in October 2002 in order to
continually document and disseminate outputs of grants made by Improved Crop
Varieties of
The Rockefeller Foundation’s Food Security Program. Over the last five
years, over
198 grants awarded have resulted in refinement of several agricultural
technologies, development of new crop varieties, and generation of extensive
scientific and extension information. The website documents these
outputs and also has information about the Program and how to
apply for grants.
What it does. The website facilitates faster access to research
activities and publications, funding information, research outputs and
breakthroughs, and capacity building activities for African scientists and
development partners in crop improvement. Specifically the website provides:
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News
and information on genetic improvement of African crops
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Scientific tools, techniques, findings & publications
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Forum
for Research and Development networks on African crops
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Current biotechnology research & development agenda in Africa
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Discussion Forums on African crops
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Information on research grants, fellowships, conferences and several
emerging opportunities
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Information search facilities and much more.
Website Usage.
The website
is visited by researchers, development workers and students; and it is
linked to
several internet sites which provide news, publications, research tools, and
information on conferences and fellowships.
Over 34000 visits have been realized in the last two years (an average of
over 1400
visits per month), with each visit lasting about
16 minutes, with over 50 documents viewed each day. Each grant has its own
web page which describes the project objectives, research methods and
outputs, collaborators’ contact details and relevant internet resources. The
success rates for submission of outputs by collaborators are 96% (2000), 75%
(2001), 36% (2002) and 18% (2003). Over 500 news items have been posted up
to date. News articles are solicited from news organizations, journals,
magazines, newspapers and websites. The site offers several up-to-date
features (over 250 scientific features) on biotechnology, breeding and
seed systems.
Supporting Scientific Networks.
In the recent months, the website has supported the work undertaken by the
African Crops Science Society,
African Marker Assisted Selection Scientists Network, Maize Breeders for
Africa Network, Consortium for Integrated Agricultural Development in
Western Kenya and the Network of East African Biotechnologists. Several
other networks also use the website to acquire and disseminate information.
The website contributes to connectivity within these networks, with other
users of the website being able to benefit from the information that is
exchanged. If you would like your network to be hosted by the website, feel
free to write to the Website Manager.
Message Board.
A
Message Board has been established to enable users to post and read
messages on specific subjects, and also enjoy an in-built chat facility. The
board has forums on selected African crops and will expand to separately
cover current research topics in crop improvement such as diseases, pests,
biotechnology, breeding and training. Visit the
Message Board today!
How you can use the site.
Visit http://www.africancrops.net and
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Tell
colleagues and students about the site
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Make
use of information from the site in your work
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Post
information from your research on the website
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Find
collaborators and useful contacts
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Participate in discussion forums
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Critique the site and contact us
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Inquiries and suggestions can be sent to:
Manager
Africancrops.net Website
P.O. Box 79 - 00621
Nairobi, Kenya
Email:
africancrops@wananchi.com
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