Published By ACB | February 9, 2025
Visiting Hawaiian Agricultural Researchers; Tyler Jones and Nathan Fumia at Ruiru Research Station in a jovial moment with the hosts led by the Director of Research Elijah K. Gichuru, January 2025.
The visit of the HARC scientists thus, the former Director of Research at the center, Tyler Jones and Nathan Fumia to the Coffee Research Institute (CRI) at Ruiru and the other entities at KALRO, is highly welcome, enfranchising and strategic the cause of the underlying rationale and mission of CoFET-Retreat (Oahu Island) Hawai’i, USA. CoFET-Retreat is a coffee science innovations and technologies exchange infrastructure, subsidiary to Africa Coffee Bureau (ACB), parent company. It was inaugurated in Oahu Island on June 13, 2022, during the first CoFET-Retreat coffee science colloquium hosted at the Hawai’i Agricultural Research Center (HARC).
The science enterprise is here to help build scientific research alliances, linkages and collaborations between AFRICA and Hawai’i – United States communities, to advance sustainable novel science technologies in coffee, cocoa, sugarcane and horticultural commodities development, that guarantee opportunity value sharing, competitiveness in farm out-put vigor and profitability for livelihoods improvement at grassroot household levels.
HARC’s travel to Nairobi, Kenya will see vigor and pace in scientific research joint work activities, capacity building exchange programs, and genetic resources exchange, including commercialization of the Batian in Hawai’i. Batian is a Kenyan arabica coffee variety resistant to coffee leaf rust (CLR) that is still a big farm production constraint undermining farmer progress in the State of Hawai’i.
The earlier CoFET-Retreats held at HARC, Oahu Island in 2022 and USDA, ARS Daniel K Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center (US-PBARC), Big Island in 2024 have been working to achieve such relations, and it’s encouraging to witness this friendship underway between HARC and KALRO, and a huge achievement. The scientific research cooperation nurturing underway between USDA, ARS Daniel K Inouye – (US-PBARC) and KALRO is equally prospective.
CoFET-Retreat (Oahu iSLAND) USA, Hawai’i Immediate Achievements:
- Big indicators for scientific cooperation in place (agricultural researchers, scientists and academicians in both communities willing to undertake joint-work activities).
- HARC exchanging premium result efficient sugarcane genetic resources to KALRO’s Sugar Research Institute (SRI).
- Critical undertakings among KALRO, USDA, ARS Daniel k Inouye – (US-PBARC) and HARC on having BATIAN introduced to the State of Hawaii is highly prospective.
This trip to Kenya by HARC is timely.
