Event 2021-10-07: The Eighth GIP Annual Team Research Meeting

The GIP program annual meeting event was held this year on the week of October 11, 2021. The online event brought together partners from the Sokoine University of Agriculture, the University of Ghana, the International Livestock Research Institute, Iowa State University, and the University of California Davis. The principal investigators and scientists from each institute in Africa and USA presented the highlights of their recent activities and work plans for the upcoming year. This year AGM key's discussion and debate were dedicated to the GIP breeding program to generate birds for genetic selection and validating the developed genomic selection platform for selecting and breeding indigenous chickens with improved survival time against Newcastle disease in Africa. All members participated in dynamic discussions and were privileged with the guidance and support of Dr. Tyrell Kahan, USAID Livestock Research Advisor at Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, on the program's future direction. The engagement of young scientists and future leaders in Africa has been essential for achieving the program objectives; the students delivered their research findings that aims to reach the program objectives, the presentations included, i) evaluating measurements and data to enhance the resilience of NDV among indigenous poultry in rural areas in Ghana and Tanzania; ii) assessing the epidemiology of the NDV genotypes circulating in Africa; iii) analyzing the value chain assessments and choice experiments, evaluating the smallholder farmers' preferred poultry traits, and considering the potential business model for the breeding and distribution of the new line of chickens. The GIP annual meeting offers a unique opportunity to reinforce the relationship among research members and students to move through the program's mission.