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Beans: Sidestepping variety… to create varieties to combat drought, disease...
BREAK-TIME AND BRAKE-TIME from beans for a bit: Steve Beebe takes a pause to strike a pose in a bean field. “These [molecular breeding] techniques, combined with conventional methods, shorten the time...
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A bout with drought and disease: Beans that beat the heat and odds in Zimbabwe
Drought stalks, some die Despite the widespread cultivation of beans in Africa, yields are low, stagnating at between 20 and 30 percent of their potential. Drought brought about by climate change is...
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Cassava’s gain, and surgery’s ‘pain’: Career crossings and causerie with...
Chiedozie Egesi Despite the social injustice around me, I always thought there was opportunity to improve people’s lives…GCP helped us to build an image for ourselves in Nigeria and in Africa, and this...
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Wherefore art thou Integrated Breeding Platform?
Something old, something new; Plenty borrowed, and just a bit of blue… Why did the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) come to be, and what’s the latest offer from the five-year-old Platform? The...
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Cassava on the catwalk: Ghanaian ‘make-over’ for crop-science underdog
‘Made (up) in Ghana’ In the world of crop research as in the fashion industry, there are super-models, mere models, spectators and rank outsiders. Make no bones about it, trusty old cassava (Manihot...
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Sororal science and a mentor on a mission – why cassava and capacity building...
Two peas in a pod, hand in hand, Elizabeth Parkes “In the past, the assumption was always that ‘Africa can’t do this.’ Now, people see that when given a chance to get round circumstances – as GCP has...
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‘Frontier’ science and Rebecca’s ‘fire’– enlisting nature to fortify crops...
Restless Rebecca Rebecca Nelson I’m a mother and a wife. The idea of so many mothers not being able to feed their families, and so many children not getting the nutrients they need to reach their...
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A grounding in the reality of groundnut research in Africa, and why blood is...
Vincent Vadez Today, we travel to yet another sun-kissed spot, leaving California behind but keeping it legumes. We land in Africa for some ground truths on groundnuts with Vincent Vadez (pictured),...
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Cowpeas – uncowed and unbowed: believing that what could be can be, in breeding
Phil Roberts Like its legume relatives, cowpeas belong to a cluster of crops that are still referred to in some spheres of the crop-breeding world as ‘orphan crops’. This, because they have largely...
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Tanzanian groundnut researchers breaking new ground…and carrying their own...
Omari Mponda After getting a good grounding on the realities of groundnut research from Vincent, our next stop is East Africa, Tanzania, where we meet Omari Mponda (pictured). Omari is a Principal...
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‘Milking’ cowpeas in Mozambique for protein and profit… plus a pox upon pests!
Rogério Chiulele Today, we travel the Milky Way on a voyage to Mozambique. Our man along the Milky Way is Rogério Marcos Chiulele (pictured), a lecturer at Mozambique’s Universidade Eduardo...
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The curious case of cassava’s quirks, narrated in Nigeria
Triumphs and tragedies, pitfalls and potential of the ‘camel crop’ We travel through space and time, with a pair of researchers who have a pronounced passion for a plant brought to Africa by seafaring...
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Decoding disease resistance in maize and rice
Crop disease costs farmers billions of dollars each year in lost yields and inputs. For farming communities in developing countries, such losses can mean deepening poverty, food insecurity, and the...
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Mission possible for ‘Generation Open’: open access and open attitudes for...
By Eloise Phipps Imagine the scene: it is the dead of night, and you are engaged on a dangerous mission. You are tense, alert for any noise. You must complete your task without being seen, or risk the...
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Peasant lad to leading professor: Paul and his passion for pods
Beyond chickpeas to embrace beans, chickpeas, groundnuts and pigeonpeas As a scientist who comes from the dessicated drylands of the unforgiving Kerio Valley, where severe drought can mean loss of life...
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James, the agile juggler on the maize research-to-development continuum
James Gethi and one of the crops closest to his heart – maize. He also has a soft spot for hardy crop varieties that survive harsh and unforgiving drylands, such as Machakos, Kenya, where this June...
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