Towards the Development of Climate-Smart Crops for Africa

Climate change represents a serious threat for agricultural productivity worldwide. Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are even more vulnerable to climate change given the rain-fed nature of their agricultural systems. The Biosciences eastern and central Africa – International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub and its African National Agricultural Research System (NARS) partners have been actively involved in the development of climate-smart agricultural tools for resource-poor farmers and consumers. The BecA initiative underpins high-end research activities with state of the art technologies and capacity building. Some of the current research projects include: the establishment of an integrated genotyping service and support (IGSS) platform which will provide genome sequencing-based genetic profiling of target breeding populations and associated bioinformatics data management, analysis, and decision support services to plant breeders; improvement of tropical forage, Brachiaria spp., for biomass, nutrition and adaptation to drought and low fertility soils; characterizing molecular and biochemical interaction dynamics of plant-virus-vector interactions for the development of new host resistance and management strategies in common bean; and development and redeployment of maize cultivars that are less susceptible to mycotoxin accumulation in specific environments. The current status of these initiatives are presented and discussed with a particular focus on the role played by the BecA-ILRI Hub in developing the capacity of African scientists to solve agricultural problems in the region, and collaborative opportunities to help address key challenges in African agriculture.