Professor Pangirayi Tongoona, Plant Breeding Consultant and Associate Director for Breeding Programmes, West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) University of Ghana, has been reappointed as an Honorary Professor in the School of Agricultural, Earth, and Environmental Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa, from 1st July 2023 to 30th June 2026. He was initially appointed as an Honorary Professor of the same university from July 2014 to June 2023. One of his notable projects at UKZN, before joining WACCI focused on developing sorghum hybrids using a temperature dependent male sterility trait. He will collaborate with scientists at UKZN during the current appointment to characterize this male sterility trait in sorghum.
Prior to his honorary appointments, Prof. Tongoona served as a Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Deputy Director of the African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI) from 2003 to 2014 and Academic Leader of the Production Cluster from 2011 to 2014 at UKZN, and before his appointment at UKZN he was a Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer from 1987 to 2003, Chairman of the Department of Crop Science (1998 to 2002), and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture (1988 to 1990) at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ). During his 37-year career in academia he has supervised 113 PhD and 50 MSc/MPhil graduates and published 140 peer reviewed journal articles. His career has been dedicated to advancing plant breeding and genetics education across Africa. He was awarded the meritorious award at the third African Plant Breeders Association conference in 2023 and life membership of the Zimbabwe Plant Breeders Association in 2018 in recognition of his contribution to Plant Breeding and Genetics training, research and leadership in Africa.
WACCI extends its heartfelt congratulations to Professor Tongoona and wishes him continued success.