b'Bolstering Food Security 3 Ways to Solve a ProblemDeus Mugabe Marla RothUniversity of Guelph University of AlbertaDeus Mugabe doesnt have toGrowing up just west of imagine what food insecurityEdmonton, Alta., 31-year-old must be like. Hes lived with it. Marla Roth didnt expect to He was born in Uganda towind up in plant science.Rwandan refugees. Mugabes parents fled an ethnic con- I didnt grow up in farming, but I did grow up on flict and settled as refugees in Uganda in the 1960s. Hean acreage, which actually really sparked my interest was born in 1989 and his family returned to Rwanda inin nature and natural plants and wildlife. But when I 1994 just months after the genocide against the Tutsi.finished high school, I studied business management and In the early years after the genocide, there wasended up in real estate, of all things, because it seemed significant food insecurity there. Even in our owneasy, she says with a chuckle. I didnt fully appreciate household, we often didnt have enough food, or elsethe fact that your interests are what make you good in the food didnt have enough nutrition for a growingyour career.child, says Mugabe, a PhD student in the University ofShe decided real estate wasnt for her, so attended Guelphs collaborative Plant Agriculture and Internationalthe University of Alberta and went into environmental Development program. sciences. In 2019 she found a position in a plant breed-My grandmother is a smallholder farmer, and spend- ing and plant pathology lab and is now working on her ing summers with her allowed me to really see agricul- masters degree studying clubroot in canola. ture up close for the first time, and thats when I startedBecause I have a passion for protecting the environ-thinking about getting into agriculture for a living. ment, I think that any effort that goes towards protecting Mugabe obtained his bachelors degree in agricul- a crop and ensuring harvests are successful also benefits ture from the Adventist University of the Philippinesthe environment, she says.with a major in crop science. He then moved to theShes researching how the mineral lime, which makes United States to pursue a masters degree at Washingtonsoil more alkaline, might affect the clubroot pathogen. State University. He began working on his PhD at theSince there are different pathotypes of clubroot, if University of Guelph in September 2019.we use lime on some of them, we can identify whether He is specifically interested in conducting research tolime is able to suppress those pathotypes present, or identify and develop molecular markers for white mouldwhether those pathotypes are resistant to alkaline soil. disease resistance in soybean.We might be able to target breeding efforts to produce Hes also looking at the suitability of selected modernresistant cultivars that are pathotype-specific, she says. plant breeding and genetic tools in the African small- If one field has a pathotype that just can survive holder model of agriculture.very alkaline soil, we might have to produce a cultivar Hes determined to use his knowledge by helpingthat can target those very resistant pathotypes. In other farmers around the world match the increasing demandwords, were thinking that some strains of clubroot are for food while being environmentally responsible,a lot more durable than other strains, so that will tailor says Istvan Rajcan, plant science professor and soybeanbreeding efforts to target different pathotypes.breeder at the University of Guelph. Nadir Erbilgin, professor in forest entomology and Mugabe says he has made the most of going to schoolchemical ecology at the University of Alberta, says Roth during a challenging time.has a unique knack for getting to the bottom of complex Theres a lot of student organizations from theissues. department, college and university level. Fortunately, IWhen I solve a problem, I weigh three factors: time, had started getting involved right before the pandemic,cost and how much experience I have with the problem. and it was actually a really good opportunity to get evenDetermining the status of each one of those helps me more involved and help bring back those connectionsfigure out how much help I might need with it or if its that were being lost due to lockdowns and social distanc- something I can do largely on my own, Roth adds.ing and the like, he adds.MARCH 2021 GERMINATION.CA 7'