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Michael Kwabena Osei

Mr. Michael Kwabena Osei was born to Dr. Collins Kwabena Osei and Mrs. Mary Osei- Asemah at Mampong in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Michael is a Snr. Research Scientist and a Tomato Breeder of the CSIR-Crops Research Institute (CRI), Kumasi, Ghana. He graduated from University of Cape Coast, Ghana with BSc. (Hons.) in Agriculture in 2002. Prior to this, he had attended T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High Secondary School in Kumasi.  Michael was later employed at the CSIR-CRI in 2004 as an Assistant Research Scientist to work on vegetable breeding at the Horticulture division of the Institute. During this period he attended trainings at the AVRDC-The World Vegetable Centre, Arusha, Tanzania and Wageningen University, The Netherlands where he obtained a diploma in vegetable breeding and a certificate in Plant Variety Protection respectively.  He was later enrolled at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science of Technology, Kumasi in 2007 to pursue a MSc. degree in Plant Breeding. He was subsequently upgraded to the position of a Research Scientist in 2010 after his graduation and was mandated to undertake research on vegetables particularly on tomato breeding. His research activities focus on identifying farmers’ constraints in the field and designing experiments to find solutions to those problems. He was a member of the team of scientists who developed and released (2) pepper varieties at the CSIR-CRI, Ghana. He has also offered consultancy services to the Wenchi Tomato Factory. Michael has attended a number of professional trainings in his area of specialization at renowned Institutions to enhance his research capabilities. He has to date over (30) refereed Journal publications in reputable international Journals, (8) edited conference papers, (10) conference abstracts, (4) disease notes, three (3) chapters in a refereed book, a manual and (13) technical reports including (3) approved consultancy reports. He has presented papers on a wide range of vegetables particularly in tomatoes and garden eggs at both local and international conferences. Michael is the first to have reported the discovery of three new distinct tomato virus strains associated with Tomato Yellow Leaf curl Virus (TYLCV) disease in Ghana.  This outstanding discovery was published in the American Plant Disease Journal and attracted funding for his research in tomato. To date Michael has attracted funding through proposal writing from USAID via Virginia Tech. University, USA, Korea government (KAFACI), WAAPP phase 1, TDTC-COVET and YPARD. He was also part of a team that developed and won proposals from the AVRDC, GhanaVeg and EDIF. He also served as the official representative of Young Professional in Agriculture for Development (YPARD) Chapter in Ghana until 2017. He has also served on several CSIR-CRI committees and was the head of the Horticulture division in 2015 before his enrolment into a PhD program at WACCI, University of Ghana in January 2016. In 2011, the Government of Ghana recognized his work and was awarded as the National Best Young Scientist (Bronze award) during the first Ghana Science Congress. Prior to that, he was a CTA award winner in a Young Professional Competition for Agricultural Scientists in Sub Saharan Africa.  The tomato research project led by him with funding from Korea government under Korea Africa Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (KAFACI) was adjudged by the donors as the outstanding project among 14 African member countries of KAFACI after evaluation of the project. He was bestowed a certificate of excellence by the Government of Korea in 2015. Michael believes that his enrolment on PhD training program at WACCI is timely to upgrade his knowledge and skills in modern plant breeding techniques so as to develop and release superior tomato varieties in Ghana. For his PhD research, he plans to develop fresh market tomato with improved yield, fruit quality and extended shelf life. He acknowledges the synergistic support of DAAD, ECONET and SYNGENTA through WACCI for his PhD training. He also believes this will allow him to provide inputs into building agriculture in Ghana and Africa as a whole and contribute to food security and poverty alleviation in Africa.