The African Plant Breeding Academy, an Initiative of the African Orphan Crops Consortium.

The African Plant Breeding Academy is a professional development program aimed at training Africa’s plant breeders in the most advanced theory and technologies for plant breeding in support of critical decisions for crop improvement. This includes the foundational concepts in plant breeding, quantitative genetics, statistics and experimental design as well as the latest proven approaches and tools in conducting accurate and precise trait evaluations, integrating genomics into breeding programs, and utilizing DNA-based information to enhance and accelerate the breeding process. The instructors are internationally recognized experts in plant breeding and seed technology. The program is delivered over 13 months in three 2-week sessions at the World Agroforestry Center in Nairobi, Kenya. The program is a key component of the African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC) that focuses on improving the nutrition, productivity and climatic adaptability of some of Africa’s most important food crops, aiming to decrease the malnutrition and stunting rife among the continent’s rural children. Even as Class III gets underway this year, alumni from the course have collaborated to advance the profession of plant breeding in Africa and to collaborate to improve African orphan crops and plant breeding education.