BIOTECHNOLOGY UNIT / PROGRAM
The Biotechnology Unit, like many other units at the Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), was established to carry out scientific research particularly in the field of biotechnology for the development of agriculture in Liberia. Its program is one of seven research programs of CARI’s Ten-year Strategy Plan and serves as support-based to other programs involved with research in crop production and protection.
Establishment of the unit.
The unit evolved in 2010 from a regional project entitled: “Using In-Vitro Tissue Culture Methods to Preserve, Multiply and Distribute ACMB free Cassava Cuttings to Farmers in West and Central Africa” under the auspice of the West and Central African Council of Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF-WECARD).
The relevant human capacity and infrastructure required for the Biotechnology Unit’s program are being put into place. These include but not limited to recruitment and training of researchers/technicians, construction of biotechnology facilities (laboratories and screen houses) and the acquisition of equipment, chemicals and consumables for the laboratories and screen houses.
Staff capacity within the Bio technology unit.
Currently, the unit has four staffs, one of whom is a volunteer, with the qualification of one Master of Science and three Bachelor of Science in the crop sciences. There is a high need for training in the area of biotechnology. The last time a staff was trained was in 2010, when two staffs of the unit participated in a one-month training in plant tissue culture at the Crop Research Institute in Kumasi, Ghana. In term of material capacity, the unit was donated in 2012 a complete consignment of equipment, chemicals and laboratory consumables by the United States Agency for International Development through a CORAF-WECARD’s initiative.
Challenges
The Biotechnology Unit has not being truly functional due to more or less the unavailability of laboratory building and 24/7 electricity.
Future activities of the unit.
Holding everything constant, it is anticipated that the unit’s program within the short-run will include the elimination of disease and the production of diseased free plantlets; in-vitro preservation of germplasm and the rapid production of large numbers of genetically identical plantlets.
