Ohio State opening affiliate in Africa for crop research

Ohio State researchers are helping counterparts in
Tanzania learn how to increase the food supply in that country.

June 24, 2011. Ohio State University is establishing its second international affiliate, this time in eastern Africa, to manage a $24 million, five-year agricultural research grant to improve crop productivity and secure a stable food supply in Tanzania.

Ohio State is teaming with four other land-grant schools – Michigan State and Tuskegee universities, University of Florida and Virginia Tech – as part of the federal government’s effort to address the root causes of hunger. The U.S. schools will collaborate on research and graduate student training with Tanzania’s National Agricultural Research System and Sokoine University of Agriculture.

Ohio State has conducted research and consulted with farmers in the country for the past decade, including crop market evaluation, pest management research and adaptations to the warming climate.The lead researchers on the project are Mark Erbaugh, director of Ohio State’s Office of International Programs in Agriculture,

and professor David Kraybill, who will move to Tanzania during the project. A project budget calls for the university’s agricultural school to spend about $481,000 over the five years to augment the $24 million grant.