Crop breeding for more adoption of new varieties and for more agro-ecological resilience in Sub Saharan Africa

Agricultural development in Sub Saharan African and particularly crop production continues to face productivity challenges due to both abiotic and biotic stresses. To varying degrees, these stresses are exacerbated by the impact of climate change. The impact of climate change is in part visible through the yield gaps which in many cases could be less than 30% of known potential. In addition to these challenges, agricultural productivity largely relies on small holder farming systems which remain very inefficient and not so well supported by most African governments. This situation is linked to low rate of adoption of new varieties and a slow rate of release of new varieties. The current and projected impacts, if no measures are taken, in the long term are i) the lack of crops varieties to cope for climate change; and ii) the inability to harness the rich biodiversity with the potential to provide options to develop suitable new crops varieties.

The BecA-ILRI Hub with its partners have over the past six years embarked on various initiatives with the overall goal to contribute to i) better understanding of causes of the low rate of adoption (~ 30%) of new crop varieties, ii) identification of key adoption considerations for the design and breeding for new varieties, iii) establishment of a high density genotyping platform and associated training to promote the utilization of molecular tools to accelerate the rate of cultivar development.

During the workshop, an update of these initiatives will be provided in the context of the delivery of the mission of the BecA-ILRI Hub focused on mobilization of biosciences for African agricultural development.