Technology generation to dissemination: lessons learned from the tef improvement project |
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Authors: | Gina Cannarozzi Solomon Chanyalew Kebebew Assefa Abate Bekele Regula Blösch Annett Weichert Dominik Klauser Sonia Plaza-Wüthrich Korinna Esfeld Moritz Jöst Abiel Rindisbacher Habte Jifar Victoria Johnson-Chadwick Ermias Abate Wuyan Wang Rizqah Kamies Negussu Husein Worku Kebede Kidist Tolosa Yazachew Genet Kidu Gebremeskel Brikti Ferede Firew Mekbib Federico Martinelli Hans Christian Pedersen Suhail Rafudeen Shimelis Hussein Muluneh Tamiru Naomi Nakayama Mike Robinson Ian Barker Samuel Zeeman Zerihun Tadele |
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Affiliation: | 1.University of Bern, Institute of Plant Sciences,Bern,Switzerland;2.Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center,Debre Zeit,Ethiopia;3.Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture,Basel,Switzerland;4.Ethiopian Institute of Research, Holetta Agricultural Research Center,Holetta,Ethiopia;5.Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute,Bahir Dar,Ethiopia;6.ETH Zurich, Institute of Molecular Plant Biology,Zurich,Switzerland;7.Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Plant Stress Lab,University of Cape Town,Rondebosch,South Africa;8.Tigray Agricultural Research Institute, Axsum Agricultural Research Center,Axum,Ethiopia;9.Department of Plant Sciences,Asosa University,Asosa,Ethiopia;10.Haramaya University,Dire Dawa,Ethiopia;11.Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali,Palermo,Italy;12.Maribo Seed International ApS,Holeby,Denmark;13.African Center for Crop Improvement,University of KwaZulu-Natal,Scottsville,South Africa;14.Department of Animal, Plant and Soil Sciences, Centre for AgriBioscience,La Trobe University,Melbourne,Australia;15.University of Edinburgh, Max Born Crescent,Edinburgh,UK;16.Centre for Development and Environment (CDE),University of Bern,Bern,Switzerland;17.Institute of Biotechnology,Addis Ababa University,Addis Ababa,Ethiopia |
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Abstract: | Indigenous crops also known as orphan crops are key contributors to food security, which is becoming increasingly vulnerable with the current trend of population growth and climate change. They have the major advantage that they fit well into the general socio-economic and ecological context of developing world agriculture. However, most indigenous crops did not benefit from the Green Revolution, which dramatically increased the yield of major crops such as wheat and rice. Here, we describe the Tef Improvement Project, which employs both conventional- and molecular-breeding techniques to improve tef—an orphan crop important to the food security in the Horn of Africa, a region of the world with recurring devastating famines. We have established an efficient pipeline to bring improved tef lines from the laboratory to the farmers of Ethiopia. Of critical importance to the long-term success of this project is the cooperation among participants in Ethiopia and Switzerland, including donors, policy makers, research institutions, and farmers. Together, European and African scientists have developed a pipeline using breeding and genomic tools to improve the orphan crop tef and bring new cultivars to the farmers in Ethiopia. We highlight a new variety, Tesfa, developed in this pipeline and possessing a novel and desirable combination of traits. Tesfa’s recent approval for release illustrates the success of the project and marks a milestone as it is the first variety (of many in the pipeline) to be released. |
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