Crop breeders at the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organisation will experience more efficient data collection after receiving modern equipment worth Sh9.2 million.
The equipment will help researchers breed maize, rice, wheat and potato crops faster and store data better for long-term programmes.
Kalro director general Eliud Kireger said breeders have been collecting data in the field and recording everything manually.
“This is not only time-consuming but sometimes the data gets lost or it's misplaced especially when the breeder retires or gets greener pastures. But with this equipment, all data is stored digitally and can be used for many years,” Kireger said.
He spoke when he received the equipment from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research's Excellence in Breeding platform at Kalro Headquarters.
Kireger said Kalro has been using very laborious systems, including manual layouts and collection, followed by manual data entry into computers.
“This old-age process is prone to data entry errors and delays in analysis, publication and reporting,” he said.
Unreliable institutional memory which is critical for long-term programmes, has constrained the breeding of crop varieties, he said.
He said the equipment will streamline information and data retrieval at the click of a button.
“I am happy to note that the equipment will also significantly reduce research costs with regard to labour thus freeing our scientists to focus on core research activities including publications,” Kireger said.
In Kenya, breeding programmes account for the highest research costs.
In 2016, for example, maize research accounted for 9.5 per cent of the total research budget.
