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Scientists are demonstrating the efficacy of plant biotechnology by taking Cornell Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellows through the process of making genetically engineered crops. Misinformation about biotechnology among global communities has inspired scientists to open up their workstations to the Fellows, some of whom are non-scientists, to explain how…

Calvin Edward Gwabara, a Tanzania TV reporter and 2018 Cornell Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellow, has been named Journalist of the Year by the OFAB Media Awards. Gwabara, who is attending the 12-week Fellows program at Cornell University, flew to Burkina Faso to accept the prestigious prize at…

When Dr. Geoffrey Arinaitwe returned home after earning his PhD in biotechnology in Belgium in 2005, Uganda seemed a promising place for young scientists. The country was deliberately prioritizing science and technology — disciplines envisioned as a vehicle to facilitate its goal of shifting from a peasant to a middle-income…

Entrepreneurial farmer Patience Koku is emerging as an international spokeswoman for introducing innovation to Nigerian agriculture. Koku, who founded and manages Replenish Farms, has been selected to participate in the Global Farmer Roundtable program. She will represent Nigerian agriculture at the prestigious World Food Prize and Borlaug…

As renowned scientist Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If I am asked to describe Ghana’s agricultural industry, I guess this famous quote could be my best description. Ghana has prided itself over the years on agriculture being…

Dr. Priver Namanya adjusted her view in the microscope, trying to get a better image of the banana cells. Then a smile lit her face. After spending the day trying to ascertain that she had incorporated a vitamin A gene into the banana cells, she had achieved success. Namanya, a…

In 1992, when I was just two years old, a commentator (a professor of English, appropriately enough) writing to the New York Times distilled all the fear of genetic engineering rife at the time with the fear of “playing God” so popularized by Mary Shelley, into a single word: “Frankenfood.” Twenty-five years later…

The Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project has concluded its first decade of research, achieving significant advances that are benefitting small-holder maize (corn) farmers in sub-Saharan nations. Some 300 million Africans depend on maize as their main food source, but the crop is frequently destroyed by drought and insect…

Kenya is an agricultural country, and farming is the backbone of our nation. Farmers are the key players at the core of this whole value chain, meaning “no farmers, no food, no life.” I am a Kenyan small-scale farmer and a farmers’ leader. We grow cotton for food security. We…