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International collaboration with the Western countries has over the years been the main component of research and development in Africa's higher education. However, Africa continues to lag behind in research performance. In the last decade, the rise of China brought on board an additional partnership through the Forum on China-Africa Collaboration initiatives guided by China-Africa policy. In view of the growing scepticism and misgivings over the China approach to collaboration with Africa, assessing patterns of progress by the China-Africa research collaborations cannot be ignored. Using bibliometric analysis of research data from InCites, the study reveals that the partnership is growing progressively in absolute terms though with high levels of relative growth rate. A few of the African countries are more engaged than the others. Fortunately for Africa, the partnership involves the physical sciences where the continent is greatly lacking and high impact is being registered. The study has the implication that while Africa needs to address issues of policy on sciences and funding for research in higher education, China equally needs to go beyond the current locations in Africa and equally engage with the lesser developed players on the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge and technology transfer to African institutes is an important objective to help achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Plant biotechnology in particular enables innovative advances in agriculture and industry, offering new prospects to promote the integration and dissemination of improved crops and their derivatives from developing countries into local markets and the global economy. There is also the need to broaden our knowledge and understanding of cassava as a staple food crop. Cassava ( Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a vital source of calories for approximately 500 million people living in developing countries. Unfortunately, it is subject to numerous biotic and abiotic stresses that impact on production, consumption, marketability and also local and country economics. To date, improvements to cassava have been led via conventional plant breeding programmes, but with advances in molecular-assisted breeding and plant biotechnology new tools are being developed to hasten the generation of improved farmer-preferred cultivars. In this review, we report on the current constraints to cassava production and knowledge acquisition in Africa, including a case study discussing the opportunities and challenges of a technology transfer programme established between the Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute in Tanzania and Europe-based researchers. The establishment of cassava biotechnology platform(s) should promote research capabilities in African institutions and allow scientists autonomy to adapt cassava to suit local agro-ecosystems, ultimately serving to develop a sustainable biotechnology infrastructure in African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]