MSc
Eliel Belchrist Sossou
The ability to conduct crosses at a large scale with little effort is essential for the development and production of hybrid crop varieties (Veerappan et al., 2014). Sometimes crosses between two different plants fail due to morphological or physiological barriers (Van de Wiel et al., 2010). Such difficulties are identified in Amaranthus cruentus, a species in which crosses are more difficult than in other crops (Stetter et al., 2016b). According to Stetter et al. (2016b), Further studies may be carry out to the figure out the adequate temperature and treatment duration for high success rate which are not yet identified.
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Marie Michèle Codja
Food security is one of FAO’s greatest challenges to population growth under a changing climate and to a lesser extent land area for agriculture. Food organization emphasizes access to food and nutrition. There is a wide variety of foods produced around the world. Among these, some species that are not widely used by the scientific community, constituting a great source of diversity that can meet the world’s food needs, may have interests in adapting to climate change.
Kersting’s groundnut (Macrotyloma geocarpum) is an orphan grain legume widely consumed in West Africa (Assogba et al. 2016).
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Daba Etana Rago
The Combining Ability and Heterosis of Yield, Yield related and growth characteristics in Spider Plant (Gynandropsis gynandra (L.) Briq.) Genotypes
The Spider Plant (Gynandropsis gynandra (L.) Briq.) is one of most important African leafy vegetables. It plays an important role in food security in different African countries. Beyond this, it is also used for different purposes, such as medicinal values, income generation, and sometimes as a means of biological insect pest control. Spider Plants have adapted to wide varieties of agro climate, short life span and their growth is preferable in areas where there are short rainfall seasons due to their ability to resist water stress through high water use efficiency.
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PHD
Abdou Razakou Bio Yerima
I hold a Master of Science in Plant Breeding from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST/Kumasi/Ghana) since 2012, and currently I am enrolled in Mobreed PhD program at the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences/University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin Republic). Prof. Enoch ACHIGAN is my supervisor at Host Institution.
Charles Uba
Charles is a PhD student interested in pursuing a lifelong career in research and academics. He aims to focus on Agriculture and Bioinformatics. He holds M.Sc. in Plant Breeding and Genetics (University of Nigeria, Nsukka) and B. Agric. (Ebonyi State University). Presently, he is pursuing a PhD in Plant Breeding at Jimma University, Ethiopia. Home supervisor: Prof. Happiness Oselebe. Host supervisor: Dr. Gebreselassie Wosene.
Josephine Tafadzwa Pasipanodya
I am a Zimbabwean national who holds a BSc Agriculture Honours degree in Horticulture from the Women’s University in Africa – Zimbabwe, an Executive Certificate in Project Monitoring and Evaluation – University of Zimbabwe, and MSc in Plant breeding from University of KwaZulu-Natal. My research interests are breeding for plant biotic stresses, particularly in legumes. I have worked on characterization of soybean, genetics of angular leaf spot disease in common bean, breeding for bacterial wilt tolerance in tomatoes, work which was done under the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of research and specialist services – Zimbabwe and Pro-Seeds (PVT) Ltd in South Africa. Currently, my focus in on pre-breeding of bambara groundnut for drought tolerance, high yield and farmer preferred traits through phenotype and genomic assisted techniques.
Carlos Houdegbe
Mr Carlos A. Houdegbe is a Benin citizen. I He obtained a Master Degree in Biotechnology and Plant Breeding at the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Republic of Benin. He is currently a PhD candidate in Plant Breeding at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) under the Intra-Africa mobility for plant breeders in Africa (MoBreed) program. His PhD study is being supervised by Dr. Julia Sibiya (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) and Prof. Enoch G. Achigan-Dako (UAC, Benin). Mr Carlos A. Houdegbe is also a research assistant at the Laboratory of Genetics, Horticulture and Seed Sciences (GBioS) where he assists for the lectures of Bioinformatics and Plant breeding. He has eight published articles in peer-reviewed journals with an h-index of 2.
BARTHLOMEW CHATAIKA
Mr Chataika is a Malawian pursuing PhD studies at the University of Namibia, under MoBreed sponsorship. He is a dedicated, result oriented and professional with high esteem to contribute research in orphan crops. He has a Master of Science degree in Agronomy majoring in Plant Breeding and Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Crop Science) both obtained from the University of Malawi. Mr Chataika has experience in conducting agricultural research having worked for international research organizations such as International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). He also worked as Lecture at the University of Malawi (now Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources) and as a development practitioner in Non-Governmental Organizations and Malawi Government/World Band funded project.
Dedeou Apocalypse Tchokponhoue
Dedeou Apocalypse Tchokponhoue is from the Republic of Benin. He held a master’s degree in Biotechnology and Plant Breeding and a BSc in Crop Sciences at the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Republic of Benin. He is currently studying towards his PhD in the MoBreed Program under the supervision of Prof Enoch Achigan-Dako (Home supervisor) of UAC and Dr Julia Sibiya (Host supervisor) of the KwaZulu-Natal University (UKZN), South Africa. As teaching experience, Dedeou Tchokponhoue assisted his local supervisor for Quantitative Genetics and Ethnobotany classes. He authored many papers including review article, research articles and book chapters. His h-index is 3.
Mariam Coulibaly
Professional Master in selection and valorization of plant genetic resources from the University of Ouagadougou since 2013/ I am engineer of agriculture working at the Minister in charge of agriculture in Burkina Faso since 2014. I am currently student in MoBreed PhD program at the University of Abomey-Calavi (Republic of Benin)
Home supervisor: Pr Mahamadou SAWADOGO from University Ouaga 1 Pr Joseph KI-ZERBO
Host university: Pr Enoch G. ACHIGAN-DAKO from University Abomey-Calavi
SHITTA Ndenum Suzzy
I obtained my M.sc in genetics and molecular biology from the University of Ibadan and subsequently took up a research fellow position at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan. My M.sc project investigated the transferability of cowpea simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers in African yam bean, useful in studying genetic diversity. After completing my M.sc program I took up a research supervisor position at the Genetic Resources Center, IITA, where I planned and carried out various molecular genetic projects involving the application of genetics and genomics tools to improve underutilized legumes. My PhD research project is designed to explore and utilized quantitative and molecular tools for African yam bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) improvement.
Tilahun Wondimu Fufa
I was born on 28 April 1974 in Ethiopia. I attended school from 1979 to 1990 in Oromia. I joined Jimma University and graduated with a diploma in Plant Science on 8 August 1992, BSc in Horticulture Science on 12 July 2006 and MSc in plant breeding on 17 October 2014. Since my graduation I had served public as development worker and researcher (breeder) on root and tuber crops. Currently, I am in Nigeria for PhD study in Plant breeding and genetics at Ebonyi State University. Prof. Happiness OSELEBE and Dr. Wosene G/Silase are my host and home institution supervisors, respectively. I had published journals on Coccinia abyssinica, Yam and Sweet potato.