Jose Barrero earned his PhD in Plant Molecular Biology in Spain and then moved to Australia to continue his scientific career at CSIRO. He has worked with several crops including wheat, barley and canola. Currently he is working with cowpea, a vital staple crop in West Africa threatened by insects. His team has developed a GM insect-resistant cowpea variety which is helping farmers in Nigeria to become self-sufficient and reduce the use of harmful chemical insecticides.
