Eric Yirenkyi Danquah

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Eric Yirenkyi Danquah is a Ghanaian plant geneticist, professor, and founder of the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI). He also served as the director of the Biotechnology Centre at the University of Ghana.

Education and early career: He attended Akosombo Experimental School and PRESEC Legon, earning a BSc in Agriculture (Crop Science) from the University of Ghana in 1984. After an internship in Germany and completing national service, he earned an MPhil in plant breeding at the University of Cambridge. He returned to Ghana briefly before going back to Cambridge in 1989 for a PhD in Genetics, which he completed in 1993. He then worked as a research scientist at Plant Breeding International in Cambridge, focusing on maize-wheat crosses and barley genome mapping.

Academic career: In 1994, he became a lecturer at the University of Ghana, rising to senior lecturer (2001), associate professor (2004), and full professor (2007). He led the Department of Crop Science (2005–2006) and was Dean of International Programmes (2006–2009). His research centers on genetic diversity in crops and pests, molecular genetics and biotechnology for crop improvement, and food security in Africa. He has mentored many graduate students.

International work and WACCI: He was a visiting scientist at the Long Ashton Research Station in the UK (2000–2001), working on microsatellites for Echinochloa. He visited Cornell University in 2005 and 2006 and helped establish the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) at the University of Ghana in 2007. WACCI has trained hundreds of students from 19 African countries and helped develop many improved seed varieties, including maize hybrids, to boost farmers’ yields and food security. In 2020, he joined the board of the USAID Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement.

Awards and recognition: Danquah has received several honors, including the University of Ghana’s Distinguished Award for Meritorious Service (2013), the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agriculture and Life Sciences (GCHERA) World Agriculture Prize (2018), the Outstanding Academic Leadership Award (2018) for advancing agribusiness in Africa, the Africa Food Prize (2022), and being named one of the 100 Most Reputable Africans (2023).