Nairobi, Tuesday, October 15 2024 by John Ekadeli
The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) has strongly engaged in different levels of collaborations, both locally and internationally, to enhance its research mandate.
The strategic partnership have been instrumental in fostering innovation, knowledge sharing, and the development of overdue technologies that are of paramount importance for growth and sustainability within the agricultural sector.
Dr. Eliud Kireger addressing the launch of the KALRO-KOPIA project at KALRO Mwea in Kirinyaga County. PHOTO | JOHN EKADELI
“We strongly feel that the true strength of the program tallies with bringing on board diverse perspectives and expertise from across Africa and abroad at KALRO. This diversity is our biggest asset, enabling us to assay the multi-faceted challenges of agriculture with innovative and context-specific solutions,” Dr.Eliud Kireger, Director General (DG), KALRO saisd
One key area where progress is recorded , the DG said is in knowledge sharing and researcher exchange programs saying such collaborations to international research institutions has seen implementation of various programmes that involve researchers visiting partner countries to work with global experts.
“These exchange programs provide new sights to the KALRO scientists concerning new agricultural methods, technologies, and practices. In return, KALRO has also had a chance to to host international researchers making the flow a two ways around”, he explained.
Dr. Kireger mentioned specifically collaboration on pest and disease management among researchers, sharing experiences in the management of the fall armyworm and emerging diseases of crops noting that such collaboration has ensured new avenues chosen for pest management with a view toward improving food safety.
Dr. Eliud Kireger, Director-General KALRO right and Dr. Ji Gang Kim, Director of KOPIA left officially launched the five-year initiative project that aims to boost rice production in Kenya by giving farmers access to quality, climate-resilient rice varieties. PHOTO | JOHN EKADELI
Besides knowledge exchange, education, and capacity building the DG said as an institution , they have experienced tremendous progress through partnerships with institute of higher education such as Universities that has equally provided numerous scholarships for young researchers to pursue further studies.
These include KALRO staff who have been able to pursue advanced degrees in specialized fields related to plant breeding, climate resilience, and livestock management”, he adde
“These individuals put their newly acquired skills to work upon returning to Kenya, contributing to the development of innovative solutions for this nation’s agricultural challenges. This educational advancement is a key driver in building a skilled workforce that can lead KALRO’s research into the future”, Dr. Kireger said .
Dr. Eliud Kireger, centre, the Director-General, KALRO, and Prof. Julius Ochuodho, left, and Prof. Philip Raburu, right, both from the University of Eldoret, seal partnership opportunities between KALRO and the University. The collaboration aims at enriching efforts in education, science, technology and sustainable PHOTO | JOHN EKADELI
The other success, he mentioned are the successful transfer of knowledge and technologies to the regions that need them the most by ensuring that KALRO develops and disseminates new crop varieties tolerant of prevailing conditions, such as drought-tolerant maize and cassava resistant to disease.
“The current adoption of these varieties is going on in regions that were previously food-insecure due to adverse climatic conditions. This is as a result of collaborative research that KALRO came up introduction of these introducing the new varieties that are helpful in increasing crop yields and farmer resilience against climate change.
KALRO has also been at the forefront of technology transfer in modern agricultural tools and practices to Kenyan farmers and in collaboration with international technology firms and other agricultural research bodies has adapted new technologies to local conditions with the latest techniques being in precision farming, digital data collection tools,
“Farmers throughout the country are increasingly gaining access to improved technologies that advance productivity, reduce costs, and promote environmental sustainability. To this end, KALRO is adopting a partnership-driven approach to scaling its innovations in order for the benefits of its work to reach more sections of the farming population”, the DG explained .
Mr. Salim Kinyimu, Director of ICT at KALRO explains to Bill Gates innovative use cases developed on emerging ICT technologies in Agriculture to offer farmers’ site-specific advisories thereby promoting their productivity and good agricultural practices. PHOTO | JOHN EKADELI
The KALRO has also played a critical role in lending support to the government during times of agricultural emergencies, Dr. Kireger said and giving an example of recent desert locust invasion, that KALRO collaborated with various world experts to devise effective ways of taming the situation and whose information could be shared with farmers and government agencies.
“ The timely interventions by experts on locust invasion saw reduced crop damage and ensured food security. This kind of partnerships have over time been crucial in strengthening KALRO’s advisory role to the government, making the institution take the lead in crisis management of the agriculture sector.”, the DG noted .
KALRO is a government agency that conducts agricultural research through the application of science, technology, and innovation to catalyze sustainable growth and development in agriculture and livestock Product Value Chains and whose mandate is to Promote, streamline, coordinate and regulate in Kenya research in crops, livestock, genetic resources, and biotechnology
