NDSU Foundation Seedstocks assistant director Gonzalo Rojas-Cifuentes spent two weeks in Guinea, West Africa, in September volunteering for Winrock International, which cooperates with the United States Agency for International Development. The government agency works to end extreme global poverty and enable democratic societies to realize their potential.

Rojas-Cifuentes was a volunteer for the Agriculture Education and Market Improvement Program, working at the Institut Supérior Agronomic et Vétérinaire de Faranah in Faranah. Winrock International engages volunteers to help provide technical assistance and training to different USAID programs, and Agriculture Education and Market Improvement builds the capacity of training and research institutions to respond to the changing needs of farms and agricultural organizations.

The purpose of the institute is to provide research and education to secure food availability, develop local agriculture and respond to climate change issues for people in Guinea. Rojas-Cifuentes introduced several topics related to plant breeding, including selection for yield, diseases, submergence tolerance, quality and taste, emerging diseases and insect problems. The major crop he covered was rice, which is a staple food supply in Guinea.

He also visited the institute’s experiment station and rice fields, the local market to obtain rice varieties and helped conduct a sensory panel demonstration.

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