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When some 20 breeders were invited to Dakar, Senegal, in early March 2020, the primary objective was to launch a new breeding project - Strengthening Networks and Institutional Capacities in Plant Breeding for the Development of Resilient Crops Meeting the Needs of West African Farmers (ABEE). The European Union is funding the ABEE project, and CORAF is implementing it alongside several other partners.

But in the end, most of the breeders invited to launch the ABEE project also had a few things in common. Most of them were young, part of the new generation of plant breeders in West Africa, and graduates of the West African Center for Crop Improvement (WACCI).

The West African Center for Crop Improvement (WACCI) is a partnership between the University of Ghana and Cornell University. It was created in 2007 with funding from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. WACCI's main objective is to train plant breeders in Africa to improve African crops in local environments for African farmers.

Having completed their studies in Ghana, most of these breeders returned to their home countries and are now employed in their national research systems, helping to advance plant breeding in their countries.

As part of the ABEE project, CORAF is working with three national agricultural research systems. These are the Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA), through the Centre d'Etudes Régional pour l'Amélioration de l'Adaptation à la Sécheresse (CERAAS), the Institut National de l'Environnement et de la Recherche Agricole du Burkina Faso (INERA), and the Institut National de Recherche Agronomique du Niger (INRAN).

At the launch of ABEE in Dakar, most of this new generation of plant breeders had an unexpected encounter with one of their former lecturers, Dr Abdou Tenkouano, also Executive Director of CORAF.

"This unexpected meeting testifies to the validity of WACCI's approach of having competent, well-trained breeders using modern breeding techniques to advance agriculture in Africa," said Dr. Abdou Tenkouano.

Asked what this means for the future, Dr. Tenkouano replied that it was a source of satisfaction and moral reassurance for the future of plant breeding in the region.

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