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Plant breeding capacity building in Africa

Nature Climate Change volume 6, page 976 (2016)Cite this article

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Improving food security requires development of farmer-preferred varieties that are more nutritious and adapted to specific agro-ecologies and changing climatic conditions. Challinor et al.1 report that the time from initiating breeding for a trait to adoption of the resulting variety is 18 years, broadly agreeing with other findings that an average age of varieties in use in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is 20 years2 — too long compared to the time frame in which climate models predict varietal characteristics will need to change.

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References

  1. Challinor, A. J., Koehler, A.-K., Ramirez-Villegas, J., Whitfield, S. & Das, B. Nat. Clim. Change 6, 954–958 (2016).

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  2. Walker, T. et al. Measuring the Effectiveness of Crop Improvement Research in sub-Saharan Africa from the Perspectives of Varietal Output, Adoption, and Change: 20 Crops, 30 Countries, and 1150 Cultivars in Farmers' Fields (CGIAR Independent Science and Partnership Council, 2014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011, Iowa, USA

    Walter P. Suza

  2. Department of Agricultural Production, Makerere University, PO Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda

    Paul Gibson & Richard Edema

  3. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University Post Office, Kumasi, Ghana

    Richard Akromah

  4. University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Private Bag X01, 3209, Scottsville, South Africa

    Julia Sibiya

  5. Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, PO box 66773, Nairobi, Kenya

    Rufaro Madakadze

  6. Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011, Iowa, USA

    Kendall R. Lamkey

Authors
  1. Walter P. Suza
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  2. Paul Gibson
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  3. Richard Edema
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  4. Richard Akromah
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  5. Julia Sibiya
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  6. Rufaro Madakadze
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  7. Kendall R. Lamkey
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Correspondence to Walter P. Suza.

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Suza, W., Gibson, P., Edema, R. et al. Plant breeding capacity building in Africa. Nature Clim Change 6, 976 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3139

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