The Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has been accredited to run post-graduate programmes in science education.

The Institute has over the years produced crop varieties and generated technologies to support Ghana’s food production and economic development.

Through its research and agricultural extension, the CSIR-CRI has also passed on knowledge and skills to farmers and educational institutions.

“We believe that by coming up with a graduate school, we’ll be able to target the next generation and build capacity in these new areas of science, so that we can ensure that science knowledge is passed on for posterity,” said Dr. Stella Ennin, Director of the CSIR-CRI.

She says the graduate school will take off with a Plant Breeding and Biotechnology programme to empower young scientists and researchers with theoretical and practical training.

“We have combined modern breeding technologies with conventional breeding and they are going to have this package together,” she noted.

The Crops Research Institute is the largest of the 13 institutes under the CSIR.

Students from tertiary institutions already use the CSIR-CRI laboratories and library for their research and also access improved crop varieties for academic work.

Over 100 students from the universities and polytechnics undertake industrial attachments at the CRI every year, whilst scientists from the Institute are also engaged as part-time lecturers in universities and supervise projects of students.