{"id":7028,"date":"2017-06-16T16:52:50","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T16:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sustainableagriculturewaitrose.org\/?p=7028"},"modified":"2017-06-16T16:52:50","modified_gmt":"2017-06-16T16:52:50","slug":"international-scientific-alliance-launched-for-crop-improvement-in-sub-saharan-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/2017\/06\/16\/international-scientific-alliance-launched-for-crop-improvement-in-sub-saharan-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"International scientific alliance launched for crop improvement in sub-Saharan Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u00a9An international scientific alliance to fast track-crop improvement in sub-Saharan Africa is launched today.<\/p>\n

The Alliance to Accelerate Crop Improvements in Africa<\/a> (ACACIA) supports African scientists to find solutions to local food security challenges \u2013 and maximise the impact of the John Innes Centre<\/a>\u2019s cutting-edge science in Africa.<\/p>\n

The alliance has been established by founding members, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)<\/a> by the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI)<\/a> Hub in Kenya and the John Innes Centre (JIC) in the UK.<\/p>\n

The BecA-ILRI Hub director, Jacob Mignouna<\/a>, explained that the initiative will support and fast-track scientific advances made by African scientists and their international partners to achieve food security and to improve nutrition through sustainable agriculture.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the launch today at the John Innes Centre, Prof Jacob Mignouna said, \u201cThis initiative will harness the strengths of the global scientific community, as well as the recent advances in technology to find lasting solutions to the challenge of food insecurity in Africa\u201d.<\/p>\n

Former BecA-ILRI Hub Director Appolinaire Djikeng<\/a> said: \u201cACACIA will build on the existing BecA-JIC alliance to provide African crop researchers and institutes access to cutting edge technologies\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with developing the next generation of African crops, the alliance will support African and UK scientists, \u201cWe hope to develop a team of scientists who have a deeper understanding of the agricultural challenges in Africa and can connect to African scientists to achieve significant impact through their expertise,\u2019 said JIC director, Dale Sanders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr Cristobal Uauy<\/a>, JIC\u2019s academic lead for international development and co-leader of ACACIA, stressed the importance of strong linkages with African National Agricultural Research Systems<\/a>, CGIAR Centres<\/a> and advanced international research institutions to advance the improvement of important African food crops.<\/p>\n

\u2018This initiative will build upon strategic, multidisciplinary partnerships to contribute to the achievement of the second United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger,\u2019 said Dr Uauy<\/p>\n

\u2018Africa has a quarter of the world\u2019s arable land, but generates only 10 per cent of global agricultural output,\u2019 said ILRI director Jimmy Smith<\/a>. \u2018The partnerships consolidated through ACACIA will strengthen access to tools for crop improvement for the ultimate benefit of smallholder farmers in Africa,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n

Article source: John Innes Centre<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An international scientific alliance to fast track-crop improvement in sub-Saharan Africa is launched today. The Alliance to Accelerate Crop Improvements in Africa (ACACIA) supports African scientists to find solutions to local food security challenges \u2013 and maximise the impact of the John Innes Centre\u2019s cutting-edge science in Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13,22,33,80,106,130,276,297,576,599,602,615,634,639],"class_list":["post-7028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","tag-acacia","tag-africa","tag-agriculture","tag-appolinaire-djikeng","tag-beca","tag-biosciences-eastern-and-central-africa","tag-cristobal-uauy","tag-dale-sanders","tag-ilri","tag-international-development","tag-international-livestock-research-institute","tag-jacob-mignouna","tag-jimmy-smith","tag-john-innes-centre"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7028\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}