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Welcome to this special edition of the DrumBeat. This issue features our Feed the Future Striga Smart Sorghum for Africa (SSSfA) project, a new public-private partnership, whose primary countries are Ethiopia and Kenya. The project comprises of multidisciplinary teams embarking on a journey to save sorghum, through new breeding innovations. Sorghum is Africa's second most important cereal and one of the most valued traditional crops on the continent. However, the parasitic weed Striga limits its productivity and causes between 30 to 100 percent yield loss, posing a great threat to livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers.
Our Video of the Month showcases how the team is utilizing genome editing to develop Striga-Smart Sorghum. Apart from highlighting sorghum's enormous food and industrial benefits, the video also outlines the project's plan to establish AfriBIOHubs. These are self-sustaining technology platforms that will create entrepreneurial opportunities for next-generation researchers to commercialize bio-products, generate income and decent jobs from biosciences.
The Story of the Month features Prof. Teklehaimanot Haileselassie, an Ethiopian crop biotechnologist and one of the project's lead scientists. Prof. Tekle shares insights of how the SSSfA project will facilitate development of superior varieties resistant to Striga, bringing back smiles to millions of Ethiopian farmers.
To facilitate a clear understanding about SSSfA project, we present you our 'Top 10 Facts' about the project, while updates 'From Our Newsroom' bring you stories of select activities already carried out in the past three months
This DrumBeat issue officially starts our countdown to the Africa Biennial Biosciences Communication Symposium (ABBC2023), scheduled for August 22-24, 2023, in Nairobi, Kenya. Themed 'Evolution of Genetic Improvement Tools in Agriculture: Is Communication Matching Up?' the symposium will bring together diverse stakeholders and multidisciplinary teams to decipher evolution of genetic improvement and best bet communication practices. We call on you to register , participate and be counted among those contributing towards improving the continent's food systems and planetary health goals.
Indeed, when the drum beats, we all dance to its rhythm as we look forward to a food secure and a healthier Africa. Enjoy issue one of this special #StrigaSmartSorghum edition!
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