My name is Goodluck Douglass Ringo a citizen from Tanzania. I did my first degree at Sokoine University of Agriculture for three years and awarded bachelor of science in agriculture general on 2012. My degree gives me the ability to integrate theoretical and practical knowledge in the general areas of agriculture together with the necessary skills to implement crop and animal production enterprises. After graduating at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania, I had the opportunity to work with Africa Rice Center which is one of 15 International Agricultural Research Centers in Tanzania. I held the position of Research Technician until 2014.Currently I am a student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, doing Masters in Plant Breeding since January 2015.

In the first year of course work at KwaZulu - Natal University, I was highly trained with different courses related to plant breeding, both skills and management, until November 2015. In December 2015 I started my internship and research on characterization of cowpea accessions based on molecular markers, agro-morphological and grain quality traits at Agriculture Research Council ARC-Grain Crops Instit​ute at Potchefstroom, South Africa. The expected output of this research is a better understanding of genetic relatedness, maximize genetic resource availability,  identify good varieties that can be used and preferred   by farmers, and identify breeding materials that will help in selection of parents for crosses in the development of  improved yield and grain nutritional quality of cowpea accessions. This research project will contribute to increase production cowpea and availability, an important source of protein and essential micro-nutrients such as iron, zinc for resource poor farmers as well as an essential component of cropping systems in Tanzania. It is a crop of major importance to the nutrition of poor rural households in Tanzania.