USAID/Guinea: USAID-Funded Biotech Lab Opens Doors in Foulaya

JUNE 21, 2006

USAID-Funded Biotech Lab Opens Doors in Foulaya

A new biotechnology laboratory gives Guinea a new weapon in the battle for food security.

FOULAYA -- The recent inauguration of a USAID-funded biotechnology laboratory could contribute significantly to Guinea's food security and help to reestablish the country as a strong partner in agricultural research with its West African neighbors.

The June 9 opening of the laboratory at the Agriculture Research Center of Foulaya coincided with the official launch of the Landscape Management for Improved Livelihoods (LAMIL), which aims to improve environmental management in key areas of Guinea. Funded by USAID and implemented by the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), the LAMIL project will cost $3.73 million over two years.

Researchers throughout West Africa know Foulaya as the source of ground-breaking work on pineapple, banana and mango cultivars almost 50 years ago, said Moustapha Donzo, director of the center, part of the agriculture ministry's Institut de Recherche Agronomique de Guinee (IRAG).

Minister of Agriculture Jean Paul Sarr is joined by USAID Director Jack Winn in formally opening the new biotech lab at the Foulaya agriculture research center.

The new laboratory "commits IRAG to the battle against food insecurity in our country," Donzo said. "It will make it possible to produce plants of quality, in sufficient quantity and within a relatively short time, for most of our principal crops, including cash crops and forest trees."

The laboratory, which was renovated and equipped at a cost of $400,000, was formally opened by Jean Paul Sarr, head of the ministry of agriculture, animal husbandry, water and forests, and Clifford H. Brown, mission director of USAID/Guinea.

"The goal of the American government in subsidizing renovation of this laboratory is to promote research that will improve agricultural production in Guinea," said USAID Mission Director Jack Winn. "The realization of this potential requires the introduction and the popularization of appropriate technologies not only through ongoing training, but also by removing constraints in access by rural populations to the best varieties of crops."

The laboratory will enable researchers to breed plants for higher yields and disease- and pest-resistance. Early projects will include hybridization of potato and cassava varieties; longer term, the Foulaya center will work to develop improved varieties of cashew trees, said Frank Beernaert, director of ICRAF in Guinea.

Among the equipment installed in the laboratory are microscopes, an environmentally controlled workspace with hood, precision scales, a sterilizer, a distiller, a temperature-controlled water bath, refrigerators and other laboratory gear.

Story and photo by Richard Stirba