A New Germplasm Exchange Facility in Kenya: Boosting East Africa’s Food Security Through Roots, Tubers, and Bananas
In Muguga, located on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, a pivotal initiative is unfolding within a remarkable greenhouses complex nestled amid a forest of century-old trees. This facility is home to the Plant Quarantine and Biosecurity Station operated by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS). Here, the critical work of safeguarding agricultural health in the region takes place, ensuring food security for millions.
As we step into this botanical enclave, we are warmly welcomed by Ephraim Wachira, the deputy director overseeing the station. He explains the facility’s indispensable role in protecting the agricultural sector from potential threats. “A plant health inspectorate service acts as a bulwark for a country’s agricultural sector,” he shares. By analyzing plant materials entering the country at various ports of entry—be it airports, land borders, or harbors—KEPHIS officers ensure that these consignments are free from pathogens and adhere to our rigorous National Plant Protection Act.
At the heart of the Muguga facility lies KEPHIS’s tissue culture lab, dedicated to managing roots, tubers, and bananas (RTB) that enter Kenya. “When a company seeks to import RTB material, we conduct tests for various pathogens, including bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and viruses,” Wachira elaborates. The lab not only identifies diseases but also cleans and multiplies infected materials for range-wide distribution, effectively positioning itself as a germplasm exchange hub for Africa.
The importance of RTB crops in enhancing food security in the region cannot be overstated. KEPHIS laboratory technicians focus on improving varieties selected for their high yield, nutritional profile, and resistance to diseases and pests. Crops like cassava, known for its climate resilience and high yields even under drought conditions, exemplify this effort. Similarly, breeders are working to enhance sweet potatoes to enrich them with iron and provitamin A. Other staples such as potatoes and cooking bananas are also included in these initiatives.
These improved crop varieties are crucial for smallholder farmers and seed companies in the region as they combat poverty, malnutrition, and the adverse impacts of climate change. However, the limitations of KEPHIS’s RTB screening capacity present a significant challenge. Currently, the lab’s facilities are not only overcrowded but also constrained by limited space, hampering their ability to meet the high demand for these essential crops.
“It can take up to eight months to clean and test a high-yielding variety of orange-fleshed sweet potato, a crucial crop for farmers in western Kenya,” says Wachira. “That amounts to a two-season wait for farmers, which could severely affect their livelihoods.” The pressing need for a larger facility has led to a new development: with funding from the German government through the Crops to End Hunger program, supported by GIZ, KEPHIS is set to rebuild its RTB lab from the ground up, beginning this April.
The new facility, aptly named “RTB-EAGEL” (Roots, Tubers, and Bananas – East Africa Germplasm Exchange Laboratory), will be outfitted with the necessary machines, protocols, and technically skilled personnel to efficiently clean, certify, and multiply these vital crop varieties much faster than previously possible. With a streamlined process, the turnaround times for requests will significantly decrease, ultimately leading to enhanced agricultural productivity.
“The quicker we can test, clean, approve, and multiply RTB varieties, the faster they can reach farmers in urgent need,” says Wachira. “It’s a matter of survival. These new crops are pivotal for our future, and they must be made available to smallholder farmers in East Africa as soon as possible to ensure there’s a tomorrow.” The construction of the new lab is slated for completion by December 2024, establishing RTB-EAGEL as a transformative hub for seed cleaning and multiplication in the region.
By effectively cleaning and multiplying seeds from various neighboring countries and distributing them widely, RTB-EAGEL is poised to create a significant impact in East Africa, providing long-term benefits to millions of smallholder farmers and end-consumers alike.
“Crops to End Hunger (CtEH)” is a multi-funder initiative aimed at accelerating the development, delivery, and widespread use of new crop varieties that are better adapted to climate change while addressing gender equity, nutrition, food security, and poverty. Our sincere thanks go to all the generous supporters of this initiative, especially to GIZ, and the CGIAR research funders for their invaluable contributions. Main image: A technical worker working on cassava cuttings at KEPHIS PQSB in Muguga, Kenya. Credit: Breeding and Research Services. Written by Julie Puech.
