Dr. Maxwell Asante has developed a BC1F2 rice population following a cross between Digang (a local variety with tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses) and Jasmine 85 (an improved Asian quality rice variety) varieties and used a genotyping by sequencing platform to determine the efficiency of SNP markers for selecting for grain quality loci. His research has led to the identification of molecular markers that could be used effectively and efficiently to improve quality characteristics in rice. This will allow the incorporation of traits that farmers and consumers prefer into varieties with high yields and tolerance to biotic and abiotic constraints. Currently, Dr. Maxwell Asante is the lead Rice breeder at the Crops Research Institute, Ghana, working on quality traits in rice. He has attracted a total of USD 665,526 from AGRA, USAID and AATF for various projects. He has eight publications in high impact journals and will release two upland and two lowland rice varieties in Ghana by next year. Dr. Asante is the Principal Investigator on various projects namely: “Nitrogen-Use Efficient, Water-Use Efficient and Salt Tolerant Rice (NEWEST) Genetically Modified Rice Project, an AATF project sponsored by USAID”, “Stress Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA)”, “Improvement of Rice Value Chain Competitiveness (IRiVaCC) for Food Security in West Africa: USAID/WA-CORAF/WECARD Strategy for Feed the Future Initiative”, “Development and dissemination of high yielding, disease resistant and consumer-preferred rice varieties for the lowland and upland ecologies of Ghana” funded by AGRA-PASS and “Enhancement of high-yielding rice germplasm in Ghana through anther culture breeding” funded Rural Development Administration of Korea under the Korea-Africa Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (KAFACI).

Dr. Ahmadou Issaka has developed downy mildew CMS lines, which would be used to produce the first F1 hybrid millet varieties in Africa. Hybrid millet is common in Asia and North America but non-existent in Africa. Currently, Dr. Issaka is working with USAID through SMIL (Sorghum and Millet Innovative Lab) to develop dual-purpose pearl millet varieties for the benefit of farmers and agro-pastoralists in the Sahelian and Sudanian zones of West Africa over a period of 4 years. The total amount for this project is US$ 114,290.00. Also, a fund of 17,000 Euro/year for 3 years was granted to Dr. Issaka in order to bring the benefits of heterosis to smallholder sorghum and pearl millet farmers in West Africa. Development of top cross pearl millet hybrids in Niger is another priority our WACCI graduate has identified for which he has been awarded 63 000 USD/year for 3 years. Finally, a sum total of US$ 234,984.00 has been in trusted to WACCI’s emerging top scientist by INRAN and AGRA to facilitate the development of the first F1 hybrid millet in farmer varieties in Africa.

Dr. Njoku Damian during his PhD research assessed the potential to improve farmers’ preferred cassava cultivars with high carotene content in Nigeria. He has developed bred four cassava genotypes that have high yield and dry matter content which contain high levels of beta-carotene and will serve as an important source of Vitamin A precursors in the diets of consumers when the advance genotypes are released in Nigeria. He is a breeder at the National Root and Tuber Research Institute, Umudike in Nigeria. He recently won a PEARL grant of USD 446,000 to lead a project on "Elucidating the genetic basis and relationship of root post-harvest physiological deterioration tolerance and carotenoid levels in West African cassava germplasm”. Damian is currently the head of plant genetic resources unit of my Institute, and this appointed came into effect immediately he graduated from WACCI. Also, he is also the head of cassava breeding unit of cassava programme of NRCRI Umudike, Nigeria, the technical officer/research assistant in-charge of Harvestplus cassava project since December 2012 till date, and a research partner to the Principal Investigator (PI) Next Generation cassava breeding project at NRCRI Umudike.

Dr. Aissata Mahamadou argued that, the development of improved sorghum varieties for resource poor farmers in West Africa requires the incorporation of farmer-preferred traits into adapted improved varieties. According to Mahamadou (2012), the low adoption rates of improved varieties in Niger have largely been due to a breakdown in the researcher-farmer linkages. High yielding and stable F1 hybrids were obtained from crosses of the local landraces and some improved lines. The findings of Mahamadou (2012) should facilitate hybrid sorghum production in Niger. Dr. Aissata Mamadou, WACCI’s first female graduate is currently the Head of the Sorghum Improvement Program at INRAN and has received a grant of USD 130,000 to develop high yielding and stable sorghum hybrids for resource-poor farmers. 
She is also serving as the lead for breeding support for commercial production of Sorghum hybrid seeds in Niger with USD 180,400 for the development and release of varieties readily available for farmers.

In Mali, farmers predominantly use open-pollinated varieties of maize. The adoption rates of the available hybrid varieties have been lower than 1%. This is partly due to the lack of high yielding hybrid varieties that are tolerant to drought. Recurrent drought is one of the major constraints to maize production in the country. Dr. Mamadou Mory Coulibaly works at the ‘Institut d'Economie Rurale’ (IER). He has developed a maize maize hybrid called Tieba which was entirely bred in Mali that is early maturing (100-105 days), high yielding (7-8 t/ha), drought tolerant and adapted to growing conditions in the country. A grant of USD 191,800 recently received from AGRA will take his work forward in the SAHEL region. 

 Dr. Mamadou Mory Coulibaly is currently serving as the project manager of AGRA 2013 Pass 020, a project aimed at the development of intermediate and early maturity maize hybrids tolerant to drought and striga in Mali with USD 191,800 funding. Also, Dr. Mamadou Mory Coulibaly is responsible of complementary breeding activities DTMA Project supported by USD 5,300. Further more he is responsible of Breeder and pre-basic seed production activities that are supported by a research grant of USD 6,500.

Dr. Solomon Gyan Ansah conducted a PRA to elicit farmers’ perceptions on soil fertility (especially soil phosphorus) and to gather information on elite cowpea varieties. This was followed by field studies to screen 100 cowpea genotypes for their phosphorus use efficiencies. Estimates of the magnitude of genetic parameters controlling low soil Phosphorus (P), narrow sense heritability of traits, combining ability estimates gave an insight to the genetic control of low P. Cowpea lines with improved phosphorus utilization have been identified. These will improve yields of farmer- preferred cowpeas in many low phosphorus soils in Ghana. He is a Deputy Director of Ministry of Food and Agriculture and working with the Directorate of Crop Services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture as the Head of the Seed Unit. He is also the National Seed Specialist under the West Africa Seed Program (WASP) and the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP). WASP is a project being funded by USAID-West Africa (office is located at US Embassy in Accra) and being implemented by CORAF/WECARD (office is located in Dakar, Senegal) with national, regional and international partners involved in the seed sector through an Alliance for Seed Industry in West Africa (ASIWA). The aim is to achieve its objectives by building an Alliance for Seed Industry in West Africa (ASIWA) involving all partners working in the seed sector, which will ensure a sustainable production and use of quality seeds of the major staple crops. The underlining hypotheses of the CORAF/WECARD Seed Program is that an alliance provides a mechanism, that encourages policy, private, public sector and development partners to share new ideas, expertise, pool resources, complement actions and create synergy at the regional and national levels. Solomon has been coordinating the establishment and operationalization of the Alliance for Seed Industry for West Africa (ASIWA) in Ghana to ensure that seed sector stakeholders’ have a common understanding of the seed systems and a shared value in the ASIWA platform.

Having published two publications in international journals, Dr. Koussao Some, the 2013 WACCI trained plant breeder has made interesting discoveries, which has taken sweet potato breeding to the next level. The potential of the crop to address food security, malnutrition and poverty has long been recognized in SSA. Varieties that combine yield and quality to address food security and malnutrition in Burkina Faso have been developed. Farmers’ production constraints and preferences were first gathered in a PRA. Promising sweet potato varieties have been identified and will be the first sweet potato varieties developed in Burkina Faso. Currently, Dr. Koussao Some is a Plant Breeder at INERA with focus on sweetpotato. He has been appointed as a representative of West Africa for the African Potato Association (APA). Dr. Some has been awarded a grant, of USD 177,500 for 3 years (August 2014 - July 2017) by AGRA to fund his research project on farmer focused participatory breeding of Orange-fleshed sweet potato adapted to Savannah and Sahelian environment of Burkina Faso. Also, Dr. Some is currently the national PI of a sub-regional project entitled: "Jumpstarting Orange-fleshed Sweet potato in West Africa through Diversified Markets" implemented in Nigeria, Ghana and Burkina Faso. This ground breaking sub-regional project is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for 3 years (April 2014, March 2017) with USD 185,000 for Burkina Faso.

Dr. Moses Adebayo a lecturer at the Lakode Akintola University was trained at WACCI. During his PhD research Dr Adebayo selected twenty-four maize lines based on genetic distances and pedigree information to generate 96 single-cross hybrids using a North Carolina Design (NCD) II mating scheme and crossed a set of 20 lines to two inbred line testers (1368 and 9071) to generate 41 testcrosses including the hybrid between the two testers. The two sets of hybrids were evaluated under managed drought stress and well-watered conditions in the dry seasons of 2010 and 2011 at Ikenne in Nigeria. High yielding and drought tolerant maize hybrids that are well-adapted to major growing areas in Nigeria have been identified based on his work. He is currently working on the LAUTECH-AGRA Maize Breeding Project 2013 PASS 026 funded by AGRA with USD 178,000. There were three publications in peer-reviewed journals from the work of Dr. Adebayo.