Dover, DE— Dr. Rose Ogutu, Extension Horticulture specialist for Delaware State University, was awarded a fellowship by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program (CADFP) to work with Dr. J. Naalamle Amissah and University of Ghana on collaborative research involving vegetable grafting, Horticulture curriculum co-development and outreach to stakeholders. In Ghana since August 9, Dr. Ogutu will return stateside in early October. Her international travel was scheduled initially for 2020, but postponed due to the COVID pandemic.
The Department of Crop Science of University of Ghana conducts teaching, research and development and extension service through the transfer of knowledge, technology and skills. Dr. Ogutu will be part of ongoing research to fine-tune techniques aimed at commercial grafted seedling production. Dr. Ogutu’s expertise in grafting will prove beneficial when training technical and extension staff who will in turn serve as trainers for the dissemination of the grafting technology to farmers in the pepper and tomato producing areas of Ghana.
Dr. Ogutu will help the university develop a new undergraduate course in “Greenhouse Technology” that will equip students with the relevant skills needed to build capacity in protected and controlled environment agriculture production. Dr. Ogutu will co-teach a graduate course ‘CROP 648: Nursery Management’ with Dr. Amissah. Students in this course will become conversant with plant propagation and grafting techniques.
Dr. Ogutu will also be called upon to review a draft PhD program in Horticulture. Other activities include mentorship of graduate students as they delve into research topics of interest; help to teach sessions on Research Methods and delivering a seminar on her research as part of the Department’s guest seminar series program.
Below is a summary of Project Impact:
Immediate Impact – Host Institution
An improved curriculum that includes an additional horticulture course to provide students with entrepreneurial capabilities
More students enrolling in horticulture or taking related courses as electives
Establish and develop working greenhouse guidelines for controlled environment vegetable production
Establish mentorship opportunities for graduate students in horticulture
Immediate Impact – Fellow’s home institution
- An opportunity to showcase DSU and establish faculty linkages
- Collaborative research with the University of Ghana
- Opportunities for exchanging faculty and student visits between the University
- of Ghana and DSU
- Opportunity to be at the forefront of cutting-edge grafting research
- Sharing of technology and the development of new technologies through research
Immediate Impact – Fellow
- An opportunity to co-develop a course in horticulture
- Interact with faculty in the Department of Horticulture and identify opportunities for research collaboration
- Opportunity for the fellow to share her research and promote her institution to students, faculty and staff in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences
- Experience a new culture and develop propagation methods for tropical species
Long Term Impact – Host Institution
- Increase in the number of students starting horticulture related businesses upon graduation
- Representatives of farmer groups (in major tomato and pepper producing areas in Ghana) will be introduced to grafting technologies to enhance production
- Possible student and faculty exchanges
- Increased output of research publications jointly written by the fellow and colleagues in the host institution
Long Term Impact – Fellow’s home institution
- Possible student and staff exchanges
- Establish a mentorship program between DSU and the University of Ghana
- Exchange of ideas and the development of insights into the use of grafting to improve pepper and tomato cultivation
- Potential for developing patentable technology
Long Term Impact – Fellow
- Establish mentorship opportunities with students in the field of horticulture
- Joint research proposal submissions and increased research output
- Co-supervision of graduate student research
- Development of expanded research networks within Africa
- Dissemination of research output and the application of research findings to the cultivation of tomato and pepper
- Potential for developing patents
- High impact of research on the lives of farmers in Africa
- Increased publications and research output
Sustainability: Future collaborations will involve Dr. Ogutu serving as an external mentor to
students. Through her fellowship, the University of Ghana envisions mutually beneficial student and/or staff exchange programs with DSU. Tomato and pepper grafting activities conducted during the project will help the University of Ghana become a lead institution in Ghana concerning grafting technology for sustainable farm production.
The Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program, now in its fourth year, is designed to reverse Africa’s brain drain, strengthen capacity at the host institutions, and develop long-term, mutually-beneficial collaborations between universities in Africa and the United States and Canada. It is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in collaboration with United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) in Nairobi, Kenya, which coordinates the activities of the Advisory Council. A total of 471 African Diaspora Fellowships have now been awarded for scholars to travel to Africa since the program’s inception in 2013.
Fellowships match host universities with African-born scholars and cover the expenses for project visits of between 14 and 90 days, including transportation, a daily stipend, and the cost of obtaining visas and health insurance.
See a full list of projects, hosts and scholars.
Please direct all questions related to the application process to AfricanDiaspora@iie.org.
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The College of Agriculture, Science and Technology at Delaware State University adheres to the 1890 land-grant mission of teaching, research and extension. Through its five departments, the college offers 15 bachelor of science, 11 master of science and five doctorate degrees in agriculture and related sciences, and STEM fields. Contact us online at cast.desu.edu, or by phone at 302.857.6400, for more information.
