Since 2006 the University of California at Davis Plant Breeding Academy has trained 114 crop breeders from 26 countries. Now the university has announced plans for a new African Plant Breeding Academy to be held in Nairobi, Kenya. The goal is to train a new generation of botanists and plant geneticists, who will seek to improve the nutritional value of indigenous African crops. The university will be working with the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the African Orphan Crops Consortium.
The new academy will consist of a six-week program held at the World Agroforestry Center in Nairobi, beginning in December. Instructors will include some of the world’s leading experts on plant breeding and seed technology.
“We believe that the new plant breeding academy will produce important benefits for the daily lives of many Africans,” said Allen Van Deynze, the research director of the University of California Seed Biotechnology Center.
