Cornell University recently received a $25.5 million investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (DFID) for cassava breeding research in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the next five years, this program aims to discover novel ways to shorten the breeding cycle of the cassava plant, a woody root vegetable, that has been identified as a crop that might survive climate change.

The funds are supporting the project for which Cornell has partnered with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria, the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) for Plant Research in New York, the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) in Uganda and the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) in Nigeria.

"Increased support for strengthening the research capacity in Africa and harnessing novel technologies are critical to improving overall agricultural productivity and food security for poor people," said Yona Baguma, project coordinator for NaCRRI.

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