Climate-smart and disease-resistant varieties of crops are direly needed to address food insecurity in the face of climate change, but the lack of infrastructure and human capacity pose a handicap to embracing advanced breeding technologies to accelerate the availability of such varieties. Plant tissue culture (TC) is one of the technologies required in modern breeding and also to produce disease-free planting materials to curb the spread of diseases, particularly for vegetatively propagated crops important for Kenya, such as bananas and other commercial crops. However, the application of TC is constrained by inadequate laboratories and human skills. The project seeks to address this gap by working on two aspects: First, by expanding and equipping the existing basic TC lab and training staff to enable adequate;

• Hands-on TC practical teaching for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
• Production of clean planting materials of disease-resistant banana varieties available at KU.
• Advanced research in modern breeding techniques to address climate change and disease challenges.

Second, by strengthening the collaboration of KU with farmers, an agribusiness cooperative and local governments in three counties (Embu, Kirinyaga, Muranga) where banana is a priority crop to enhance deployment and sustainable use of disease-free banana plantlets. Ultimately, the project will improve technical, scientific, educational and research capacity and enhance the adoption of innovations to sustainably address food insecurity.