Makerere University Regional Centre for Crop Improvement: A model Training and Research Hub for Next Generation of Plant Breeders for Africa

Africa has a significant shortage of first-class plant breeding professionals. To meet future food demand in Africa, there is need to train more expert plant breeders. The Makerere University Regional Centre for Crop Improvement (MaRCCI) has developed a unique approach to graduate plant-breeding training, to produce graduates that can independently run cultivar development programs meeting smallholder farmer needs in the African context. Since 2008, the center has trained 58 PhD and 117 MSc students from 20 sub-Saharan countries. The existing PhD curriculum has been revised to include recent advances in plant breeding. The Centre derives its strength from extensive cooperation with national, private sector, regional and international partners. The Centre runs two in-house breeding programs on sorghum and cowpea which are designed to deliver high yielding and stress resilient varieties, targeting food products and brewery industry. These breeding programs deploy modern breeding practices from which graduates gain hands-on skills.