Dr Abe Gerrano currently serves as Senior Plant Breeder at the Agricultural Research Council – Vegetables, Industrial and Medicinal Plants, in South Africa. He obtained a BSc, and MSc degree at Alemaya University of Agriculture in Ethiopia and PhD at the University of the Free State in South Africa. His research focuses on genetic improvement of underutilised leguminous, leafy and fruit vegetables, including cowpea, okra, Bambara groundnut, and amaranth. In addition to leading plant breeding programs for these crops, he lead national and international research projects (as Principal and Co-Principal Investigator) including Bioversity International/CIAT farmers participatory research project, IAEA & BBSCRC projects which involved entirely small-scale farmers (rural community with limited resources and technology in the country). He also manages the national mutation seed gene bank, which holds what are regarded as national assets in the country. His research interests are development of climate-resilient cultivars with high nutritional value, optimising the breeding pipeline through the prudent use of molecular breeding and genomics technologies, and the assessment of genetic diversity in underutilised leguminous, leafy and fruit vegetables and crop wild relatives towards the genetic improvement of crops for especially increased yield, nutritional quality, drought and heat tolerance. Dr Gerrano is currently involved in a number of collaborative research projects with Durban University of Technology, North-West University, and University of the Free State aimed at improving food, nutrition and health security, particularly interventions in the areas of food science and technology in cowpea, Bambara groundnut and taro for increased food and industrial applications in South Africa. Towards these goals, he value plant genetic resources management (germplasm collection, conservation, agronomic and nutritional evaluation and characterization, and documentation of germplasm accessions). Furthermore, he is motivated to involve graduate students in his research and cultivar development programs to train the next generation of crop improvement scientists for South Africa and Africa. Currently, he holds a rating of Y-2 with the National Research Foundation of South Africa. e has been recognised as an Extra Ordinary Research Fellow of the North-West University and have received Certificates of Achievement in recognition of excellence in plant breeding research from the Agricultural Research Council. He currently hold an appointment as a Research Fellow from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) through the Agricultural Research Council. He has published more than 65 manuscripts in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, 8 peer-reviewed conference proceedings as well as 2 book chapters, 20 book abstracts, and 5 popular articles. Furthermore, he serve as on the Editorial Board for international journals, Horticulture Journal and Acta Scientific Agriculture, besides serving regularly as invited Reviewer for more than 90 national and international journals. Dr Gerrano also served as Technical advisor for Angola and Lesotho in designing the research project proposal for Agricultural Productivity Program for Southern Africa (APPSA) organised by Center for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa and Agricultural Research Council for funding. He is registered with South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) as a professional scientist I am a member of professional societies: International Society of Horticultural Science, International Legume Society, African Plant Breeders Association, and Southern African Plant Breeders Association, University of the Free State Alumni Association and Ethiopian Professionals Associations in Southern Africa. Looking to the future, Dr Gerrano will continue work to develop improved crop solutions to food insecurity and malnutrition. In particular, his goal is to produce legume varieties that meet the needs of farmers, consumers, and other stakeholder in the agricultural value chains, varieties offering desirable agronomic and nutritional characteristics, tolerance to heat and drought stress, high and stable yield, and top end-product quality.
