Climate-smart and disease-resistant varieties of crops are direly needed to address food insecurity in the face of climate change, but the lack of infrastructure and human capacity pose a handicap to embracing advanced breeding technologies to accelerate the availability of such varieties. Plant tissue culture (TC) is one of the technologies required in modern breeding and also to produce disease-free planting materials to curb the spread of diseases, particularly for vegetatively propagated crops important for Kenya, such as bananas and other commercial crops. However, the application of TC is constrained by inadequate laboratories and human skills. The project seeks to address this gap by working on two aspects: First, by expanding and equipping the existing basic TC lab and training staff to enable adequate;

• Hands-on TC practical teaching for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
• Production of clean planting materials of disease-resistant banana varieties available at KU.
• Advanced research in modern breeding techniques to address climate change and disease challenges.

Second, by strengthening the collaboration of KU with farmers, an agribusiness cooperative and local governments in three counties (Embu, Kirinyaga, Muranga) where banana is a priority crop to enhance deployment and sustainable use of disease-free banana plantlets. Ultimately, the project will improve technical, scientific, educational and research capacity and enhance the adoption of innovations to sustainably address food insecurity.

Joshua Magu works at the Plant Transformation Laboratory at Kenyatta University under Prof. Steve Runo. He spent four weeks at the Laboratory for Applied In Vitro Plant Biotechnology in Ho Gent, hosted by Prof. Stefaan Werbrouck, from mid-November 2023. During his stay, he received training on various aspects of plant tissue culture, such as protoplast isolation, meristem culture, medium preparation with new cytokinins, classical micropropagation of banana collection, and temporary Immersion Bioreactor for speed micropropagation of banana. Joshua has shared his experience of this training program in his own words.

Tissue culture is a technique that is used in growing plantlets in a short amount of time. The technique can be used to generate disease free plants and it's not dependent on the season. The training aimed at gaining new insights on the best tissue culture practices, how to manage a tissue culture laboratory and how to ensure that there is rapid micropropagation. I credit Prof. Stefaan, who has shared the knowledge and in the process demonstrated the use of bioreactor as a sustainable way of propagating plantlets. In addition, I also give credit to VLIR-UOS for sharing the opportunity to enhance my knowledge and skills in the field of tissue culture. The skills gained come in handy in ensuring the success of the tissue culture lab in Kenyatta University.