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Published on
06.05.24
A significant milestone was reached on 25 April in the realm of roots, tubers, and bananas (RTB) with the ground breaking of the Roots, Tubers and Bananas-East Africa Germplasm Exchange Laboratory (RTB-EAGEL). The Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Hon. Mithika Linturi, commissioned the construction of RTB-EAGEL at the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), Plant Quarantine and Biosafety Station (PQBS) in Muguga.
The RTB-EAGEL is a collaborative project between KEPHIS, IITA, and the International Potato Center (CIP), funded by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) through CGIAR‘s Crops to End Hunger (CtEH) program. The new state-of-the-art facility aims to provide services such as pathogen diagnostics, virus-elimination, in vitro, and germplasm exchange services, as well as a platform for RTB research and knowledge sharing within the Eastern Africa region and beyond.
Speaking during the ground breaking event at KEPHIS PQBS in Muguga, Project manager and IITA Scientist Morag Ferguson highlighted that breeding is expensive and not all countries in the region can afford to have proper, fully-fledged breeding programs for all RTB crops. She further emphasized the need to leverage the stronger breeding programs and take advantage of what’s produced therein.