DuPont Highlights the Role of Women in Advancing Agricultural Research

Announces Collaboration with African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD)

DuPont today announced its collaboration with African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) with a commitment of approximately US$400,000 over the next four years to help strengthen the research skills of female African agricultural scientists.

DuPont Pioneer will annually host at least two AWARD Fellows in its global laboratories for up to nine months over a four-year period.  These research attachments will complement the extensive training and leadership development offered by AWARD.

The majority of those who produce, process and market Africa’s food are women, but only one in four agricultural researchers is female, according to a 2008 study conducted by AWARD.  In addition, fewer than one in seven of the leaders of agricultural institutions are female.  AWARD is addressing this gap.

“DuPont and AWARD share a common belief that women play an indispensable role in agriculture,” said Paul E. Schickler, president, DuPont Pioneer.  “Empowering women to have a greater voice in decisions will have a significant impact on food security and poverty alleviation worldwide.”

AWARD Leadership Program

AWARD is a two-year leadership program that supports women scientists working to improve food security and reduce poverty in Africa.  To date, 250 African women scientists from 11 countries have benefited directly as AWARD Fellows.  They range from recent university graduates to recognized experts in their fields.  Their research covers 16 disciplines in agricultural research and development, from plant pathology to water management and from poultry science to climate change.

Pioneer will provide advanced science training to two leading African women scientists, Grace Nakabonge and Felister Nzuve, who were selected from a competitive pool of post-graduate AWARD Fellows.

• Nakabonge is a geneticist and lecturer at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, with a special interest in biodiversity conservation and livelihood strategies.  Her goal is to identify superior genotypes that can be used in a breeding and domestication program to obtain varieties that the farming community can use sustainably.
• Nzuve, a Kenyan geneticist who is pursuing a doctoral degree at Makerere University, is interested in exploring wheat-rust resistance genes, and other gene-mapping activities, to help improve agricultural practices.

“Our new collaboration with DuPont Pioneer will make a powerful difference for these two scientists and their home institutions as well.  I am grateful that DuPont Pioneer shares our vision of investing in the next generation of African leaders in agricultural science,” said Vicki Wilde, director, AWARD.  “That new leadership will be all the more effective when women are highly represented, especially by those who are technically competent and well-positioned to generate the technologies needed by rural woman, and other smallholder farmers.”

Read the full news release