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News Release: AfricaRice signs Host Agreement with the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP)

October 16, 2017
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(Top row, L-R: Dr Kevin Pixley (IBP Board member), Dr Kanyawim Kirtikara (IBP Bpard member), Dr Étienne Duveiller (DDG-DR4D AfricaRice), Dr Samuel Bruce-Oliver (AfricaRice Director of Strategic Partnerships), Mr Gary Cornelius (IBP Board Vice-Chair), Mr Koen Geerts (AfricaRice Director of Corporate Services).
Bottom row, L-R: Dr yté Wongbe (DG of CNRA), Dr Jean-Marcel Ribaut (IBP Director), Dr harold Roy-Macauley (DG of AfricaRice), Dr David Hoisington (IBP Board Chair), Dr Jonas Chianu (Principal Agricultural Economist, African Development Bank). Credit: R.Raman/AfricaRice) 

12 October 2017, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire  The Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) signed a Host Agreement with the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) on 12 October 2017 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. The Agreement was signed by Dr Harold Roy-Macauley, AfricaRice Director General, and Dr David Hoisington, Chair of the IBP Board of Directors in the presence of representatives of both organisations and special invitees.

By virtue of this agreement, the assets of the IBP in Africa will be hosted and managed within AfricaRice in Côte d’Ivoire, including potential new funding projects for building capacity of national research programmes in the area of rice breeding. Both institutions strongly wish that this agreement, which serves as an important milestone in their partnership, would mark the beginning of a series of new opportunities for joint activities. 

“Africa needs to urgently modernize rice breeding and make it more efficient and cost-effective so that smallholder farmers can have access to improved and resilient rice varietires to face a changing climate. As AfricaRice coordinates a continent-wide rice breeding taskforce to strengthen the research and development capacity of national systems of its member states, this partnership with the IBP comes at an opportune moment,” said Dr Harold Roy-Macauley.

Members of the IBP Board of Trustees took this opportunity to hold their annual meeting at AfricaRice in Abidjan from 11 to 13 October 2017. This was an ideal occasion to meet local partners and users of IBP services. 

IBP Board and Management felt that it was most appropriate to select AfricaRice as the venue for the Board meeting, considering AfricaRice’s important role as a Regional Hub of the IBP.  AfricaRice and the IBP share a common vision, emphasising collaboration, the development of a community of practice and the empowerment of plant breeders.

The IBP provides technological tools and knowledge while AfricaRice facilitates their deployment to breeders in the national programmes thanks to its wide network of partnerships. The IBP, with its broad expertise in developing plant breeding tools, and AfricaRice, with its expertise in research and development of the rice value chain, will combine their efforts to modernise rice breeding in Africa. 

“We are very excited about our partnership with AfricaRice and the achievements made in the region in terms of dissemination of best practices in plant breeding. We hope that this will be translated into a concrete and rapid impact in the fields of local farmers,” confirmed Dr David Hoisington.

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About AfricaRice

AfricaRice is a CGIAR Research Center – part of a global research partnership for a food-secure future. It is also an intergovernmental association of African member countries. The Center was created in 1971 by 11 African countries. Today its membership comprises 26 countries, covering West, Central, East and North African regions, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Uganda. AfricaRice headquarters is based in Côte d’Ivoire. Staff are located in Côte d’Ivoire and also in AfricaRice Research Stations in Benin, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania. For more information visit: www.AfricaRice.org

About the Integrated Breeding Platform IBP

The Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) is a not-for-profit entity whose mission is to help accelerate the delivery of new crop varieties, in the context of an increasing demand for food and unprecedented environmental challenges. It does so by providing IT tools, crop breeding services and training to breeders, especially those in developing countries, so that they may fully join in the global effort towards achieving food security in the context of climate change. We believe that access to the right tools and opportunities will help breeders achieve more efficiency in crop improvement, and therefore have a concrete and direct impact on their specific local environmewww.integratedbreeding.net

About IBP Regional Hubs

Institutions or programmes hosting Regional Hubs are privileged partners of the IBP who are working together as part of dynamic regional networks. They provide support in the use of modern tools – the Breeding Management System (BMS) – and services, mainly through capacity building, technical support and crop-specific expertise. Their role is to champion IBP tools and services in their region and to facilitate adoption by new users, having themselves integrated its methods to their day-to-day activities. Hubs also play a key role in interacting directly with local users to inform them of the development of new BMS functionality and usability features consistent with their expressed needs.

 

For more information:

Ms Savitri Mohapatra
AfricaRice Head of Marketing and Communications
S.Mohapatra@cgiar.org

Ms Valérie Boire
IBP Communications Manager
v.boire@cgiar.org

 

Audio podcast : Click on the web link to listen to distinguished speakers at the signing ceremony

 

Photos : Scenes from the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) board meeting and AfricaRice-IBP signing ceremony 

Related informationAn IBP - AfricaRice Case Study | Une étude de cas IBP - AfricaRice

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