Dr Riyazaddin Mohammed is a postdoctoral fellow and leads the pearl millet breeding program in West and Central Africa (WCA). He holds a Ph.D. in Genetics with a specialization in plant genetics and breeding sandwiched between the Department of Genetics, Osmania University, Hyderabad, and International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Patancheru, Hyderabad, India.
The semi-arid tropics of WCA have nutrient-poor soils, and the crops experience erratic rainfall, diseases, drought, parasitic weeds, and insect pests challenging smallholder farming. His current research focuses on developing improved climate-smart, dual-purpose nutritious pearl millet OPVs and hybrids suitable for different agro-climatic zones of West and Central Africa (WCA), mainly the Sahel and Sudanian zones, where rainfed agriculture is practiced. His research also includes strengthening the seed systems, enhancing farmers’ knowledge, strengthening national agricultural research by backstopping their programs with the breeding pipeline material, and conducting training. He has supervised Ph.D. and master’s students for their thesis work. Currently, he is supervising two Ph.D. students and one intern in his program.
In his academics, during his graduation, he received a gold medal as a topper of his class. During his Ph.D., he received the K. K. Agrawal Gold medal for the best poster presentation and stood second in the competition for the best paper presentation. After his Ph.D., he was selected for the SERB-OPDF and Kothari fellowships for his postdoctoral study. He has seven and a half years of experience in plant breeding at WCA. He has published his research in international journals with good impact factors and contributed to the book chapters.