Advances in agricultural productivity in Africa have lagged, as reflected by the factthat varieties are often popular with farmers for more than 14 years (Walker et al.2015). The distribution and adoption of improved crop varieties has been stymied inpart by an insufficient number of plant breeders on the continent. Would-be plantbreeders often chose to pursue MS- and PhD-degree programs in the USA or Europe,and more than half of these did not return to Africa to practice their profession oncegraduated (Ali et al. 2007). The University of Ghana determined to change this byestablishing the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) in 2007, inpartnership with Cornell University, to offer quality education and training inGenetics and Plant Breeding to African students. Supported by the Alliance for aGreen Revolution in Africa (AGRA) as part of a strategy to launch a GreenRevolution in Africa, WACCI aimed to create a sizeable, innovative workforce toincrease agricultural productivity and ensure food security, especially for the people ofwest and central Africa. Professor Eric Yirenkyi Danquah, a visionary leader, wasappointed to establish and direct WACCI. He determined to create a pathway fromBS to MS to PhD in plant breeding at the University of Ghana to serve students fromboth English-speaking and French-speaking countries and to attract both men andwomen into the program, with the aim to establish WACCI as a leading institution forplant breeding education on the global stage.
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