NAIROBI, KENYA: Three Kenyan scientists have been awarded the 2015 BGRI Gene Stewardship Award and received the coveted "Norman Borlaug" statue for their work in wheat during the 2015 Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI).
Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) scientists Ruth Wanyera, Senior Plant Pathologist, Godwin Macharia, Wheat Breeder and Peter Njau, Senior Wheat Breeder, were selected for the prestigious award following their excellence in development and release of rust resistant wheat varieties, seed multiplication of resistant varieties with diverse genetic backgrounds and disease survey and surveillance activities in the country.
The BGRI Gene Stewardship Award recognises a researcher or team of researchers serving a national breeding program or other nationally based institution who demonstrate excellence in the development, multiplication and/or release of rust resistant wheat varieties through appropriate means that encourage diversity and complexity of resistance, promote the durability of the materials, and help implement the BGRI's goal of responsible gene deployment and stewardship.
"The Kenya team is highly deserving of this award," said Ronnie Coffman, vice-chair of the BGRI, and director of International Programs at Cornell University. "Over the last eight years, they have built a collaborative platform in Njoro to test wheat germplasm from all over the world, and developed the capacity of a rust screening program that has successfully tested thousands and thousands of the world's wheat varieties against rust."
Acting KARLO Director General Eliud Kireger said this was good news to Kenyan scientists adding that the research was good news to farmers who have been affected by low yielding varieties.
"The KALRO team contributes significantly to Kenyan wheat security. From 2009-2013, the KALRO wheat team helped increase the area under wheat production in Kenya from 160,000 ha to 180,000 ha and productivity in individual farmers' fields from 2.5 to 3.0 tonnes per hectare which is an amazing achievement," noted Eliud Kireger.
Kenya is a wheat-deficit country, producing slightly over 400,000 metric tonnes of the crop against consumption of more than one million metric tonnes.
According to the ministry of Agrculture, more than 300,000 farmers grow wheat in the country, but a series of outbreaks of destructive diseases has seen some abandon the crop for other high-value options.