Name: Isaac Kofi Bimpong
Designation: Plant Breeder / Geneticist
Organization: Plant Breeding and Genetics Section | Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture| Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications | Vienna, Austria |
He obtained both his MSc and PhD at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in collaboration with International Rice Research Institutes (IRRI) in the Philippines.
He worked at Africa Rice Centre (CGIAR organization) for almost 10 years and played a major part in optimizing breeding pipelines to increase genetic gains.
He led the High-throughput genotyping (HTPG)” to support ‘forward breeding’ in Africa for marker assisted selection and quality assurance processes with the aim of increasing rates of genetic gain at AfricaRice.
He led the rice improvement for problem soils (salinity and sodicity) for STRASA project (Stress Tolerant Rice for poor farmers in Africa and South Asia) funded by Bill and Melinda Gate foundation.
He was the coordinator for Africa-wide Mangrove and lowland swamp breeding taskforce- a platform for 25 NARES-member countries in Africa.
At the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre, his leadership responsibilities include provision of technical leadership in project development & implementation to increase the pace of mutation breeding in 19 Member State and 3 Regional projects, and is leading a coordinated Research Project (CRP) on Development of Integrated Techniques for Induced Genetic Diversity and Improvement of Vegetatively Propagated and Horticultural Tree Crops.