Principal Investigator: Mr. Fousseyni Cissé

Grantee: Institute of Rural Economy, Bamako, Mali

Address: P.O. Box 258, Rue Mohamed V, Bamako, Mali

Duration: Four Years

Amount: US $70,380

Grant No: 2003 FS 007

Purpose: Development of new drought tolerant rice varieties specifically adapted to the drought-prone production conditions of West Africa

Principal Investigator: Dr. Richard Edema

Grantee: Makerere University

Address: Department of Crop Science, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala Uganda

Duration: Three Years

Amount: US $177,865

Grant No: 2003 FS 023

Purpose: Using molecular marker-assisted selection for quality protein maize trait and MSV resistance

Principal Investigator: Dr. Pedro Fato

Grantee: National Institute for Agronomic Research

Address: C. Postal 3658, Av. F. P.L.M., Malavane, Maputo 8, Mozambique

Duration: 1 year

Amount: US $95,000

Grant No: 2003 FS 001

Purpose: Training farmers and local entrepreneurs in new techniques for the production, storage and distribution of improved varieties of maize, rice and other crops in Mozambique

Principal Investigator: Dr. Daphrose Gahakwa

Grantee: National Agricultural Research Organisation, Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute

Address: P.O. Box 295, 256042 Entebbe Uganda

Duration: Three Years

Amount: US $239,370

Grant No.: 2003 FS 021

Purpose: To develop new banana genotypes resistant to weevils, black sigatoka and nematodes through conventional breeding methods and to promote their use among smallholder farmers in Uganda

Principal Investigator: Dr. Jane Ininda

Grantee: Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)
Amount: US $300,000
Duration: Three Years

Purpose: Second phase of "coordinated ecosystem breeding", to generate maize varieties resistant to pests and diseases of maize found in particular agro-ecological zones of Kenya

Principal Investigators: Dr. Fred Kanampiu and Dr. Shivaji Pandey
Grantee: CIMMYT
Amount: US $460,700
Duration: Two Years

Purpose: To develop and disseminate herbicide-resistant maize seed coated with specific herbicides that inhibit the growth of the parasitic weed Striga

Principal Investigator: Dr. Mick Mwala

Grantee: University of Zambia

Address: P.O. Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia

Duration: Three Years

Amount: US $168,300

Grant No: 2003 FS 008

Purpose: Training M.Sc. students in plant breeding for the Southern African Development Community region.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Gorrettie Ssemakula

Grantee: National Agricultural Research Organisation

Address: P.O. Box 295, 256042 Entebbe Uganda

Duration: Three Years

Amount: US $120,700

Grant No.: 2003 FS 022

Purpose: Namulonge Agricultural and Animal Production Research Institute research on cassava improvement in Uganda through the integration of end-user participatory approaches, biotechnology tools and conventional breeding methods

Abraham Blum, Tel Aviv, Israel:  $88,900 toward the costs of maintaining a web site to service the information and communication needs of scientists  working to create more resilient crop species for less favorable environments worldwide, with emphasis on drought tolerance in cereals. 

African Agricultural Technology Foundation, Nairobi, Kenya:  $1,000,000 toward the costs of selecting, preparing and mobilizing resources for pilot projects that will facilitate public sector access to new agricultural technologies.

African Crop Science Society, Rustenburg, South Africa:  $16,859 for use by its Kenya Chapter for a special symposium on food crop improvement at the Sixth African Crop Science Congress, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, October 2003.

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York:  $145,090 for use by its College of Agriculture and Life Sciences toward the costs of providing consulting and technical assistance aimed at enhancing the quality of Ph.D. training for plant breeders at the African Center for Crop Improvement, University of Natal.

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York:  $150,000 toward the costs of a study, in collaboration with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Kenya's maize improvement program by utilizing both conventional and molecular breeding and to identify genes for resistance to fungal diseases of maize.

Gertrude Night, Uganda:  $64,550 for a fellowship research allocation for dissertation research in Ugan­da as part of a Ph.D. program in entomology at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Harvest Biotech Foundation International, Nairobi, Kenya:  $641,388 toward the costs of improving access of poor farmers in Kenya to lower-cost, dis­ease- and insect-free tissue culture banana plantlets, thereby raising their farm productivity, food security and incomes.

International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, Colombia:  $1,008,800 toward the costs of developing and coordinating a network of researchers working to improve cassava breeding through the development and use of inbred lines that breed true from one generation to the next.

International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, Colombia:  $181,223 for a collaborative research project applying marker-assisted selection and farmer participatory methods to the production of new disease- and insect-resistant cassava varieties for poor farmers in Tanzania.

International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Nairobi, Kenya:  $11,000 for the continuation of research, in collaboration with the Institute of Arable Crops Research-Rothamsted, aimed at controlling Striga infection of maize through co-cultiva­tion with legumes that produce Striga-inhibiting compounds.

International Cooperative Centre for Agricultural Research for Development, Paris, France:  $18,260 for research, in collaboration with the John Innes Centre, Norwich, England, to develop a molecular library of rice genetic information that will facilitate marker-assisted selection breeding programs.

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru, India:  $279,320 for the second phase of a joint research project with the Institut de Economie Rurale, Mali, on Guinea Sorghum Hybrids:  Bringing the Benefits of Hybrid Technology to a Staple Crop of West Africa.

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Oyo State, Nigeria:  $146,682 for a collaborative research project applying marker-assisted selection and farmer participatory methods to the production of new disease- and insect-resistant cassava varieties for poor farmers in Tanzania.

International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya:  $45,000 toward the costs of the planning phase to create a sub-regional biosciences center for East and Central Africa.

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Mexico City, Mexico:  $308,000 for the sec­ond phase of a project to strengthen maize seed production and distribution systems for small-scale farmers in Kenya and Uganda.

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Mexico City, Mexico:  $460,700 toward the costs of developing and disseminating herbicide-resistant maize seed coated with specific herbicides that inhibit the growth of the parasitic weed Striga.

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Mexico City, Mexico:  $700,000 to develop innovative and integrated biotechnology approaches to improving the tolerance of tropical maize to water-limited environments.

International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy:  $36,940 for use by its International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain to assess biotechnology-oriented research strategies for improving East African Highland Bananas.

Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya:  $141,420 for introgression of Maize Streak Virus resistant genes into Kenyan hybrid maize using DNA marker-assisted selection, to enable farmers who grow the hybrids to achieve higher yields.

Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya:  $150,000 toward the costs of a study, in collaboration with Cornell University, to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Kenya's maize improvement program by utilizing both conventional and molecular breeding and to identify genes for resistance to fungal diseases of maize.

Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya:  $300,000 toward the costs of the second phase of Coordinated Ecosystem Breeding to generate maize varieties resistant to pests and diseases of maize found in particular agro-ecological zones of Kenya.

Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya:  $200,789 to establish a plant genetic transformation facility for maize improvement in Kenya.

Market Matters, Ithaca, New York:  $201,250 to improve the effectiveness of seed markets serving poor farmers through research, analysis and management training for pro-poor African seed companies.

Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania:  $34,342 to breed maize varieties resistant to gray leaf spot and northern leaf blight in the low and intermediate altitude areas of Tanzania.

Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania:  $190,095 for use by its Research and Development Division for a collaborative research project applying marker-assisted selection and farmer participatory methods to the production of new disease- and insect-resistant cassava varieties for poor farmers.

National Agricultural Research Organisation, Entebbe, Uganda:  $119,168 for use by its Namulonge Agricultural and Animal Production Research Institute for the promotion and development of improved, high-yielding bean varieties for sustainable food security, nutrition and household income in Uganda.

North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina:  $306,321 toward the costs of developing a new strategy for enhancing Gemini virus disease resistance in African crops.

Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana:  $31,000 in support of activities of the Network for the Genetic Improvement of Cowpea for Africa.

University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California:  $197,541 for use by its Division of Biological Sciences to determine whether certain toxins from Bacillus thuringensis (Bt) are effective control agents against nematodes that affect plantains and East African Highland Bananas.

University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida:  $32,693 for use by its Citrus Research and Education Center to determine whether certain toxins from Bacillus thuringensis (Bt) are effective control agents against nematodes that affect plantains and East African Highland Bananas.

University of Malawi, Zomba, Malawi:  $80,010 for use by its Bunda College's Initiative for Development and Equity in African Agriculture to develop a sustainable cassava seed market system in Malawi.

University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England:  $76,332 toward the costs of a study to identify the genes in rice responsible for resistance to the parasitic weed Striga and to explore the possibilities of transferring such genes to maize in Africa.