Dr Daniel Nyadanu
Country (Nationality)
Ghana
Grantee Title
Areas of research interest:Breeding for drought tolerance in cocoa, Climate change scenarios in cocoa growing areas in Ghana, Variation in water use efficiency among clones of cocoa.
Grantee Description
Home Institution Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi
Host Institution Kenyatta University
Summary of research
West Africa has experienced a drying of the climate, leading to decreases in annual rainfall by 30% in the West African Savanna. Farmers in Ghana in recent years experienced death of seedlings at establishment stage of cocoa and high seedling mortality has become a critical constraint to sustainable cocoa farming. Mitigating impacts of climate change on cocoa production is therefore no more an option but a dire need to protect
livelihood of farmers and sustain the economy of cocoa growing countries in West Africa. One of the means to address effects of climate change is to use irrigation. However, in many cocoa producing countries in West Africa, irrigation systems or facilities are lacking. Therefore, the survival of resource poor, small scale cocoa growers who depend on rain
for establishment of their cocoa has become a major challenge. Small-scale cocoa farmers are particularly vulnerable because of their limited adaptive capacity. Breeding for drought resistant varieties has been regarded as one of the major means to adapt to effects of climate change. In breeding for drought resistance, there is a need to understand the current trend of climate change scenarios in major cocoa growing areas of Ghana and to exploit the germplasm of cocoa under natural and managed drought stress conditions to identify sources of resistance to drougstove design engineers, and policymakers.