UK funds £20 million climate research programme in Africa

A new UK government-funded initiative will put £20 million behind leading-edge research to better understand Africa’s changing climate and the use of climate change information in decision-making across the continent.

Africa’s climate is one of the least-researched and poorly understood in the world, but looks set to change significantly in the decades ahead.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that temperatures could warm up to 6^oC on the continent this century, and vast areas could experience more intense drought or rainfall than known before.

Governments and the private sector currently plough US$70 billion into infrastructure investments in Africa each year.

There are major questions over whether these investments will be resilient to the climate of the future.

Future Climate for Africa (FCFA) is supporting five major research projects to develop better climate information for Africa and to test how the new information could be used in decision-making.

FCFA is a joint programme of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Natural Environment Research Council.

Dr Tim Wheeler, DFID’s Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser, said: “FCFA will not only improve the climate information available to African decision-makers, but it also aims to work with both scientists and stakeholders across the continent to ensure that information is better tailored to users’ needs and to strengthen the skills of users in the interpretation and use of climate information”.

“African societies are already affected by climate change including sustained droughts, deadly floods and rising sea levels, which entrench poverty and undermine economic growth,” said Stefan Raubenheimer, Director of FCFA’s Coordination, Capacity Development and Knowledge Exchange unit. “The Future Climate for Africa programme will provide high quality climate information to help governments and businesses make more climate-resilient investments. The programme will safeguard economic development and contribute to the fight against poverty in the long term.”

For full descriptions of the research awards, visit: www.futureclimateafrica.org

CSIR-CRI to run post-graduate programmes in science education

The Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has been accredited to run post-graduate programmes in science education.

The Institute has over the years produced crop varieties and generated technologies to support Ghana’s food production and economic development.

Through its research and agricultural extension, the CSIR-CRI has also passed on knowledge and skills to farmers and educational institutions.

“We believe that by coming up with a graduate school, we’ll be able to target the next generation and build capacity in these new areas of science, so that we can ensure that science knowledge is passed on for posterity,” said Dr. Stella Ennin, Director of the CSIR-CRI.

She says the graduate school will take off with a Plant Breeding and Biotechnology programme to empower young scientists and researchers with theoretical and practical training.

“We have combined modern breeding technologies with conventional breeding and they are going to have this package together,” she noted.

The Crops Research Institute is the largest of the 13 institutes under the CSIR.

Students from tertiary institutions already use the CSIR-CRI laboratories and library for their research and also access improved crop varieties for academic work.

Over 100 students from the universities and polytechnics undertake industrial attachments at the CRI every year, whilst scientists from the Institute are also engaged as part-time lecturers in universities and supervise projects of students.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

KNUST Central Lab to support research activities of industries

Local industries can access a modern science laboratory at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to enhance the research and development of new products.

The KNUST Central Laboratory is equipped to support research in the pharmaceutical, engineering, biomedical, agrochemical and chemical disciplines.

The facility allows for the common use of expensive and complex cutting-edge research instrumentation by students and faculty as well as researchers at home and abroad.

Vice Chancellor of the KNUST, Prof. William Otoo Ellis, explains the Concept of a central lab is a shared network of research facilities that brings state of the art equipment to the doorstep of scientists of varied backgrounds – both basic and applied sciences.

The motive is to meet standards in teaching, training and research comparable to any such facility in any part of the world.

Prof. Ellis says the facility will support industry, especially those in pharmaceuticals, herbal medicine, food and agriculture, mining and environmental related sectors as well as regulatory bodies such us the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The project started in 2012 with the Jos Hansen and Soehne Group of Germany aiding with a six million euro research equipment.

Chief Executive of Champion Divine Clinic, Dr. Kwaku Frimpong, partnered the University with a 25% funding stake in the construction of the building/laboratory complex to house the specialized equipment.

The “Divine Champion Building” was constructed by Berock Ventures Ghana at an estimated cost of Gh1.25million – the University contributed the 75% of the cost from its internally generated fund.

Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovatiion (MESTI), Mahama Ayariga, has lauded the initiative and observed the need for national research institutions to also have centralized laboratories to create avenues for collaborations and also for cost-effective and efficient operations.

“We should have central laboratories at least in every regional capital that services every research institutions, so we all converge at the same place and carry out the research,” he said.

The Minister said the country would have to leverage on the application of science and technology by “indigenizing” technologies to resolve most of the socio-economic challenges.

“We are importing too much technology and it’s costing our economy so much,” he observed. “Until we indigenize a lot of that technology and produce it ourselves and even take a further step of innovating and also exporting technology to other people, we’ll continue to face many of the challenges that our economy is confronted with”.

 

Managing Director of Jos Hansen and Soehne, Burkhard Wollborn, noted that the benefits of establishing the Central Laboratory “will for a long time be a backbone in the future development of the University. I am sure that many talented students who are honoured by studying at KNUST would become future human assets to this great country to help developing it into the status where it actually belongs to”.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Ghana to get bio-repository facility to aid research in tropical diseases

Ghana is not out of the woods yet in terms of the country’s disease burden as recent data shows the impact of health problems is higher than estimated.

The Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR) has therefore committed to develop a critical mass of research scientists to conduct research into tropical and related diseases that are of national and regional importance.

Current research activities at the KCCR include malaria, tuberculosis, onchocerciasis, buruli ulcer and elephantiasis.

“What we are seeking to do is to keep on finding some answers; so for example on buruli ulcer, how best can we improve on the treatment?” quizzed Dr. Ellis Owusu-Dabo, Scientific Director of the KCCR.

Together with its partners, the KCCR is putting up a cold house to create a bio-repository of human and biological samples for teaching and research. The project, to be completed before end of 2015, is funded by the VW Foundation at a cost of €250,000.

The building will house freezers and fridges with the state-of-the-art facilities to help track diseases and populations in answering important research questions.

According to Dr. Owusu-Dabo, the cold house will operate in accordance with standard rules and regulations which will be stipulated by the Ethics and Institutional Board Committees.

“It’s good to have a repository where samples are kept, research questions are raised and then the answers sought on the basis of the creation of the bio-repository,” he noted. “So when we do have for example sputum samples, is there a way that we can go back and look at community X and say that on the basis of the samples we do have, community X is likely to be prone to resistance strains of tuberculosis?”

The research works of the KCCR are largely aligned to the research agenda of Ghana – the Centre currently working with the Ghana Health Service to conduct the first-ever drug resistance study for pulmonary tuberculosis in the country.

The Centre hosts the African Research Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases and also serves as the research wing of the College of Health Sciences at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST, Prof. Otoo Ellis is enthused at the establishment of the cold house facility at the KCCR.

“With time, you need to continuously upgrade your system; the cold house is one of the critical things that we need because you need to be able to store your samples, keep them in a state where you don’t have variations,” he said.

The University has the core business of teaching, research and service and entrepreneurship training.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Researchers target senior high students with biotech education

Ghanaian researchers are focused on increasing knowledge on the application of biotechnology in agriculture and other economic activities.

The scientists believe the high opposition to the introduction of genetically modified (GM) products into the country could be a result of limited information on the subject.

“Biotechnology is an emerging area of science; it’s progressing faster than computer science and even those of us in this part of the world, it’s difficult to even catch up with the pace and that is what has brought about all the myth fear about the GM technology,” said Dr. Marian Quain, Head of Biotechnology Research Programme at the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

She is coordinating a project to introduce biotechnology education in high schools across sub-Saharan Africa.

Some Senior High Schools in Kumasi were engaged in a debate on biotechnology as part of the project – it was won by T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High School, Kumasi.

“The information on biotech even in the syllabus is scanty, so we don’t have much facility in the laboratory even to help teach it,” stated Henry Edem Denteh, a teacher at T.I. Amass.

He describes the programmes as education as his school also receives training kits to facilitate teaching and learning of the subject.

Dr. Quain observed Ghana is yet to optimize use of biotechnologies in agricultural production and is hopeful the project will enhance critical thinking among students in the areas of biotech and GMOs.

“We need to get them educated so that they can make informed decisions and communicate effectively about the technology,” she stated.

The project is supported by Inqaba Biotechnical Industries Limited, a company that assists researchers in testing for GMOs to detect and isolate wrong materials. It is also creating a network in sub-Saharan African to promote biotechnology.

Ghana Area Director of Inqaba Biotec, Christian Adabor Badu, acknowledged there are “bad” GM products in the system but stated that the country should not neglect the importance of having “good” GMOs in place.

He is worried a high court injunction halting production and commercialization of GM products will impede efforts at applying science and technology to increase Ghana’s food security.

Campaigners against GMOs, Food Sovereignty Ghana, is in court contesting the process of testing and production of crops like rice and cowpea using GM technology without an established Biosafety Authority to legally regulate such activities.

According to the group, Ghana’s food security is endangered if it has to depend on multinational companies to produce seeds for local farmers and also contends that GM products will hurt the ability of farmers to use natural seeds for production.

The Court has ordered government to stop GM activities until the case brought by Food Sovereignty Ghana is determined.

But Mr. Adabor Badu says this development will not be in the interest of research for higher productivity.

“If we are able to embrace GMOs in the right way, the country will be able to go far in terms of increasing yield and crop and animal production,” he stated.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Systems research offers solutions to poverty, hunger and environmental degradation

Agricultural scientists and researchers from over 30 nations have gathered at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria, for the International Conference on Integrated Systems for Sustainable Intensification in Smallholder Agriculture.

Conference speakers and exhibitors will present strategies and results that respond directly to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined by the United Nations, and have a marked impact on the lives and livelihoods of smallholder producers and consumers of developing countries.

Considerable progress has been made towards those goals, but much is yet to be done. Despite significant economic growth in many developing countries over the past decade, over 800 million people remain under-nourished, including 160 million children.

According to recent Lancet reports, under-nutrition remains the underlying cause of death for at least 3.1 million children a year, accounting for fully 45% of all deaths of children under 5 and stunting the growth of another 165 million.

Dr. Kwesi Atta-Krah, Director, CGIAR Research Program on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics (Humidtropics), says “the conference offers a platform for sharing of experiences and research results in systems research for development, from different countries and regions of the world. It provides a reminder of the challenges facing global agriculture and food systems, and the solutions that integrated systems research offers as part of a global effort to tackle poverty, hunger and environmental degradation.”

The conference calls upon the donor community, agricultural research institutions, partners in the wider research and development community, the private sector, as well as policy and decision-makers to work jointly and strengthen the use of systems approaches in agricultural research for development.

This is in order to further advance the contribution of science to the international community’s commitment to end hunger completely by 2030.

Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Chief Executive Officer of the CGIAR Consortium, emphasizes, “We cannot simply tread familiar paths in response to these statistics. Over the next few years we will join with our partners to redouble our focus on the needs of women and young people, extend our efforts to improve dietary quality among the poor and vulnerable, and intensify our work on climate-smart agriculture – all recent additions to our research agenda.”

 

Dr. Nteranya Sanginga, Director General of IITA, similarly emphasizes the importance of systems research.

He calls for continued efforts, declaring, “we must develop and promote improved and nutritious crop varieties of Africa’s major staples, as well as innovative practices on natural resources management, and innovations on integrated farming systems towards sustainable intensification of agriculture.”

Ghana to establish Horticulture Research Institute under CSIR

Ghana’s horticulture sub-sector should be boosted with the proposed establishment of the Horticulture Research Institute under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Horticulture is a branch of agriculture concerned with the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and ornamentals such as plants used for landscaping.

Pest infestation in Ghana's fresh fruits and vegetables is among challenges of horticulturists in accessing international markets for produce such as pineapples, mangoes, tomatoes melons, egg plants, cassava and sweet potato leaves.

Dr. Abdulai Baba Salifu, Director-General of the CSIR, says the proposed institute is to address challenges in the underserved area of horticulture.

“The horticulture sector in Ghana has a greater potential to fetch us foreign exchange but the bottom-line is that the research input is a little bit low”, he observed. “If we have a research institute which is geared towards addressing challenges in the sector, the attention will be brought to bear to ensure the horticulture industry grow from strength to strength and keep people in jobs”.

CSIR is the largest scientific research organization in Ghana, operating under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The Council’s 13 research institutes are spread nationwide, with mandates covering specialized areas in agriculture and agro-processing, industry, environment, building and road construction, fisheries, forestry, water resources, the social sciences and some aspects of health.

The proposal for CSIR’s 14^th institution has been approved by the Board and expected to be presented to sector minister for cabinet consideration.

Dr. Salifu indicated the new Institute is likely to be situated in the Brong Ahafo region, which is the only region where the CSIR has yet to establish an institute.

The activity of horticulture also needs to be undertaken in a transition zone where the savanna and forest areas overlap, he noted.

Dr. Salifu would not give timelines as to how soon the project will take off but noted the necessary documentation will be presented to the sector Minister for government’s approval.

Meanwhile, the CSIR Director-General is seeking a review of the core science textbooks for students in second cycle institutions, to reflect modern innovations in science and technology.

The CSIR currently has about 500 Research Scientists with varied specialized disciplines and expertise, who all play significant roles in contributing to Ghana’s economic growth and development.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh