Page 9 - Demo

UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL FOUNDATION 7%u2018These ACCI alumni constitute a new generation of plant breeders who are now leading the crop breeding programmes of national agricultural research systems (NARS), universities, the private sector and international research centres in some 20 countries in Africa,%u2019 said Shimelis.%u2018These ACCI-trained breeders currently constitute a significant proportion of all active plant breeders in these countries. The ACCI-educated plant breeders have released over 200 new crop varieties in a wide range of crops that are vital for food security throughout eastern, southern and West Africa.%u2019The ACCI has successfully graduated over 155 African plant breeders to date.The ACCI is also part of a collaborative plant breeding sorghum project with the University of the Free State (UFS) and the Sorgho (Pty) Ltd company, initiated and funded by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), that seeks to improve the yield of this neglected and underutilised crop by researching genetic improvement to result in higher-yielding hybrids.Sorghum, a tropical cereal grass, has been cultivated in South Africa for three millennia as a local staple for human and animal consumption, and is the world%u2019s fifth most important crop. It is a highly nutritious, versatile crop that has adapted to growing in harsh climatic conditions that are increasing in a climatechanged world, making it an excellent source of food security.In its unprocessed form, sorghum has a high protein and sugar content and almost no fat. Its energy content is higher than that of maize meal in the form of a processed meal known as amabele. Its stalks can also be used for fodder, fuel, shelter or sugar and syrup production.In South Africa, sorghum production and consumption have dramatically declined, to the extent that the country is now a net importer of the grain rather than an exporter as it used to be. This is due to a lack of genetic improvement in developing cultivars with enhanced yield potential, making sorghum production less competitive than other cereal crops.To tackle this, the DSI initiated and funded a study on market opportunities for sorghum in South Africa to identify the challenges facing sorghum production and recommend how the sorghum industry could become more competitive and productive. This led to the establishment of the Sorghum Cluster Initiative (SCI) to advance the study%u2019s recommendations towards implementation.The ACCI is collaborating with the UFS and Sorgho as part of the SCI to evaluate exotic germplasm as a precursor to sorghum Dr Kiddo Mtunda was the first Tanzanian ACCI student to graduate with a PhD in plant breeding, in April 2010. She has released four new varieties of cassava and is also involved in breeding new sweet potato varieties.Dr Chrispus Oduori at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation%u2019s finger millet farm in Kakamega, Kenya.pre-breeding. This project, which commenced in late 2023, is operating trials at three sites in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, and North West provinces where sorghum research is being carried out, looking at different aspects of sorghum breeding.