Three years after the Founding Director of the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) at the University of Ghana, Professor Eric Danquah, won the 2022 Africa Food Prize, a former student of the Centre has now taken the 2025 honour.

At the 2025 Africa Food Systems Forum in Dakar, Senegal, the Africa Food Prize Committee announced that WACCI alumna and founder of GoSeed Ltd in Nigeria, Dr. Mercy Elohor Diebiru-Ojo, and Professor Mary Abukutsa Onyango of Kenya had been named joint winners of the 2025 Africa Food Prize.

The annual US$100,000 prize is Africa’s most prestigious recognition for individuals and institutions reshaping the continent’s food systems.

Dr. Diebiru-Ojo was recognised for her groundbreaking work in transforming cassava and yam seed systems.

She adapted and commercialised Semi-Autotrophic Hydroponic (SAH) technology to produce millions of disease-free, high-quality planting materials, doubling yields, strengthening value chains, and empowering seed enterprises in Nigeria and beyond.

Her work transforms innovation into enterprise by giving farmers resilient crops, contributing directly to economic transformation across the region.

Her scientific journey was shaped at WACCI, where she earned her PhD in Plant Breeding in 2017.

Funded by AGRA and supported by the Next Generation Cassava Breeding Project (NextGen), her doctoral research on “Genetic and Physiological Analysis of Flowering in Cassava” advanced understanding of cassava flowering.

She successfully induced floral production using plant growth regulators, providing novel insights critical to cassava improvement.

At WACCI, she was supervised by Professors Isaac Asante, Essie Blay, and Eric Y. Danquah, with mentorship from Professor Tim Setter of Cornell University and Dr. Peter Kulakow of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

As a Borlaug LEAP Fellow, she also served as a visiting scientist at Cornell University from 2014 to 2015.

She became the first NextGen Cassava PhD student to graduate, marking a milestone in WACCI’s mission to train the next generation of African plant breeders. She additionally works as a Seed Systems Specialist at the IITA.

More on 2025 Africa Food Prize

Announcing the laureates in Dakar, the Prize Committee noted that the two winners exemplify how scientific leadership and home-grown innovation can transform African food systems.

Their achievements show that research on indigenous crops and scaling of smart technologies can raise incomes, strengthen value chains, and secure a healthier future for millions.

Dr. Wanjiru Kamau Rutenberg, Africa Food Prize Committee Member, remarked, “Women-led enterprises are shifting how Africa grows, buys, and eats food.

Prof. Abukutsa Onyango’s work advances healthier meals and reliable income for growers. Dr. Diebiru-Ojo’s seed systems give farmers a clean start each season and a fair shot at higher productivity.”

Chair of the Africa Food Prize Committee and former President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, stated, “Prof. Abukutsa Onyango and Dr. Diebiru-Ojo embody the very best of African innovation, demonstrating that true transformation lies not only in the spotlight of major crops but also in elevating the seeds, systems, and knowledge that sustain our continent’s future.”

IITA Director General and CGIAR Regional Director for Continental Africa Dr. Simeon Ehui said in a statement following the award that Dr. Diebiru-Ojo’s work “demonstrates how cutting-edge research, when scaled, can drive real transformation in the lives of farmers, enhance resilience in our food systems, and secure Africa’s agricultural future.”

Celebrating WACCI’s impact

In September 2022, Founding Director of WACCI Professor Danquah received the Africa Food Prize from Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Kigali for pioneering contributions to science and capacity development.

Dr. Diebiru-Oju’s award, coming so soon after her mentor’s, underscores the transformational model that WACCI represents for Africa.

Since its establishment in 2007 as a collaboration between the University of Ghana and Cornell University with initial AGRA funding, WACCI has trained a new generation of African plant breeders.

It has endeavoured to live up to its mantra of “Training Africans on African crops in Africa for Africa.”

Most alumni remain in national agricultural research systems and universities, directly contributing to food and nutrition security while addressing Africa’s long-standing brain drain.

Collectively, WACCI and its alumni have attracted more than US$100 million in competitive grants, expanding research and innovation capacity across Africa.

In 2015, after a rigorous regional competition, WACCI was designated a World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence (ACE), a responsibility it successfully executed until June 2025.

Today, it stands as one of three global hubs for the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS) Capacity Project, and the only African university hub selected.

With over 40 strategic partners, WACCI continues to build a formidable ecosystem for agricultural innovation, supported by major funders including the European Union, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Bayer, Syngenta, the African Union, and numerous universities worldwide.