The African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC) opened the African Plant Breeding Academy on 3 December 2013 to help improve the livelihoods of Africa’s smallholder farmers and their families, reduce hunger and boost Africa’s food supply.   AOCC’s goal is to use the latest scientific equipment and techniques to genetically sequence, assemble and annotate the genomes of 100 traditional African food crops to guide the development of more robust produce with higher nutritional content.

‘Orphan crops’ are African food crops and tree species that have been neglected by researchers and industry because they are not economically important on the global market.

The consortium includes the African Union - New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AU-NEPAD Agency); Mars, Incorporated; World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF); BGI; Life Technologies Corporation; World Wildlife Fund; University of California, Davis (UC Davis); iPlant Collaborative and Biosciences eastern and central Africa - International Livestock Research Institute (BecA - ILRI Hub).

 Located at ICRAF in Nairobi, Kenya, the Academy will train 250 plant breeders and technicians in genomics and marker-assisted selection for crop improvement over a five-year period. 

Dr. Howard-Yana Shapiro, Chief Agricultural Officer, Mars, Incorporated was at the CCTV Africa studios to explain the goals of the AOCC. You can watch the interview here