The African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC) was founded in 2011 to eradicate chronic hunger, malnutrition, and stunting in Africa through year-round access to locally available, nutritious food crops for daily dietary diversity to break the intergenerational cycle of nutrient deficiency.
To accomplish this, the AOCC implemented a unique three-pronged model
- Identify 101 nutritious, traditional African crops with the potential to significantly contribute to nutrition and economic growth in Africa,
- Sequence and annotate the genomes of these 101 food crops to generate resources that scientists can use to jump-start and speed development of highly productive, climate-resilient varieties
- Equip African scientists with the knowledge, skills, and tools to utilize these genomic resources and empower multi-disciplinary crop improvement teams to deliver improved varieties with the traits that farmers want and consumers need.
After more than a decade of implementation and training, facilitated by a now 44-member strong consortium, 172 scientists representing nearly 40% women and 28 African countries have been empowered through the AOCC’s African Plant Breeding Academy (AfPBA) in the use of genomics-assisted approaches to crop improvement. This unique milestone has contributed important outcomes that the FAO-AOCC Workshop program sessions will explore through an open and transparent assessment by AfPBA alumni and other experts on the premise that the AOCC’s proof of concept has been demonstrated, that the implementation “movement” has begun, and that the development model is ready for further support and investments to expand and amplify the AOCC impacts to help achieve food and nutritional security.
