Improved fodder crops and forage grasses for Africa
With a vision of addressing productivity gaps in Africa and enhancing the sustainability of livestock production, three CGIAR centres with expertise in feeds and forages have come together in this joint project.
Overview
The project aims to enhance the capacities of the CGIAR-NARES tropical forage and multi-purpose fodder breeding programs and networks to deliver the highest possible rate of genetic gains in farmers’ fields in the form of nutritious, climate-resilient, market-demanded cultivars. Our consortium is implementing activities in Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Senegal, Tunisia, and Morocco. We are working on the deployment of tools such as genomic selection (GS) and high throughput phenotyping (HTP) for important productivity and feed quality traits, and data management. Local staff will be trained and in the use of these tools which is critical to accelerate the breeding process and increase genetic gains that will result in improved feed products for farmers.
Expected outcomes
- The application of Genomic Selection GS in CGIAR-NARES breeding programs to improve genetic gain by increasing selection accuracy and reducing cycle time, allowing for faster development of improved crop varieties while reducing costs, time and resources needed.
- The deployment of High-Throughput Phenotyping and data management in CGIAR-NARES breeding programs to enable faster, more efficient and more accurate selection processes for Africa-bred varieties and to better exploit the genetic resources and capabilities of the breeding programs established in Cali, Colombia and Marchouch, Morocco.
- The development of demand-led and gender-sensitive forage grasses and multi-purpose fodder crops that are more cost-effective, productive, resource-efficient, climate-resilient, and nutritious than current cultivars/varieties through a continental-wide approach that will benefit over 500,000 small holder farmers.