C-BIRD: Tackling Climate change-based food and economic instability in rural regions by directed crop and poultry Breeding programs for Improved genetic bioinformatics Research and Development in Kenya

Summary

In this project, we tackle real-life challenges faced by Kenyan rural communities due to climate change. The impact of global warming is first felt in the poorest regions in the world, where increased extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall and intermittent drought cause immense pressure on the socio-economic stability and food security of the population. Using existing datasets and the bio-informatics lab present at JKUAT University (built in the previous VLIR-UOS funded BIRD project), together with the elaborate network of farmers associated with the National Coffee Research institute (500.000+ farmers), we will use cutting-edge bio-informatic tools to further develop F1 and composite hybrid breeding programs for indigenous poultry and crop cultivars. Our focus will be on expanding on sequence and genetic marker information already present in these institutes, and build the capacity to valorise this information into successful breeding programs. Our impact will be not just building the capacity to create these hybrids, but by their successful adaptation into the extension programs of JKUAT and the National Coffee Research Institute that will spread these cultivars to rural areas in the future.

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