Prof Maryke Labuschagne leads the Research Chair: Breeding Climate-Resilient Vegetables and Grains, a role through which she aims to address food security and nutrition challenges in the face of climate change. This chair focuses on developing nutrient-rich, climate-resilient, and disease-resistant staple crops such as maize, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and wheat. It also explores the potential of underutilised crops, including cowpea, pigeon pea, chickpea, cassava, indigenous vegetables, and particularly sorghum, known for its resilience and dual benefits as a source of protein and starch.
The chair drives innovation in crop improvement through several focused outcomes. These include expanding genetic diversity by introducing alternative high-protein and high-starch crops, increasing the yield and nutritional content of indigenous vegetables, and placing renewed emphasis on the breeding and development of underutilised crops such as sorghum. Current research continues to improve the value of key staples, with the aim of maximising nutritional impact across the board, while at the same time addressing and mitigating the loss of genetic variation.
Building future capacity is central to this initiative. Dedicated training programmes are equipping the next generation of plant breeders with important skills, while collaborative research efforts are producing high-impact, shared outputs that support sustainable food systems.
Aligned with national priorities and global development frameworks, the research chair contributes to Sustainable Development Goals such as SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 3 (Good Health), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 15 (Life on Land).
About the chair holder:
Prof Maryke Labuschagne is a professor of Plant Breeding in the Department of Plant Sciences at the UFS. She has been leading the National Research Foundation (NRF) South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) in Disease Resistance and Quality in Field Crops for the past nine years. Since 2025, she also heads this ARC/DOA/UFS Chair in Breeding Climate Resilient Vegetables and Grains.
Her research focuses on the genetic improvement of the nutritional value of food security crops in South Africa and across Africa, particularly in the context of climate change. Prof Labuschagne is involved in pre-breeding activities aimed at improving the quality of sorghum and wheat. In collaboration with the Agricultural Research Council, her work extends to crops such as cowpea, pigeon pea, groundnut, sweet potato, maize, and sorghum, with the goal of developing highly nutritious and climate-resilient varieties.
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