Charismatic root and tuber champion passes on

Professor Felix Nweke, whose work on cassava and other tropical root and tuber crop like yam left a lasting impact on agricultural value chains in multiple African countries, passed away last month, August, in the US.

A forerunner of value chain research and transformation in Africa, former IITA senior economist, and Michigan State University professor, Nweke made significant contributions to root and tuber crop research and value chain development.

A charismatic colleague, Nweke joined IITA in 1987 and served as the project leader of COSCA (Collaborative Study of Cassava in Africa), a six-country survey of cassava in Africa financed by the Rockefeller Foundation and IITA from 1989 to 199.

COSCA aimed to improve the relevance and impact of agricultural research on cassava to take full advantage of its potential in increasing food production and incomes in Africa. The study was conducted in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire (now DR Congo). The project produced over 23 working papers outlining findings that still influence numerous cassava research and development activities in IITA and the world, i.e., The contribution of IITA improved cassava to food security in sub-Saharan Africa: An impact study. The results of the project also formed the basis for a well-known book for which he was the lead author: ‘The Cassava Transformation: Africa’s Best-Kept Secret’ which was published by Michigan State University Press in November 2001.

Because of his work on COSCA, in 1995, he was given the Distinguished Service Award by the International Society for Tropical Root Crops-African Branch (ISTRC-AB) for outstanding leadership in the COSCA study. In 2013, ISTRC-AB recognized him with the Lifetime Achievement in research on root and tuber crops.

Unknown to many, Prof, as he liked to be called, was first recruited as a yam economist in IITA in the 1970s. His impact can also be felt in his contributions to the Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA) project, where he championed the need for a study on the economic importance of yam and contributed to the publication of a working paper titled Yam: A Cash Crop in West Africa. In 2016 he published a book titled Yam in West Africa: Food, Money, and More, promoting the research contributions of IITA through YIIFSWA for expanding yam production, increasing sales, helping farmers, and bringing more of this staple food to those who need it.

Nweke has also consulted for numerous African governments, the Scientific and Technical Research Committee of the Organization of African Unity (STRC-OAU), the Ford Foundation, and FAO (Food and Agriculture of the United Nations) on the problems of the root and tuber food systems in Africa.

In one speaking engagement Nweke said “Cassava and yam are interesting to me because they are rooted in my blood; if you cut me, I shall bleed cassava and yam. I could have migrated to the US and worked on wheat or corn, but that would have been a betrayal; by working on yam and cassava, I am staying true to the course; I am giving back to what made me what I am, and I feel good doing that”. For many scientists and development workers who had the priviledge to work with Prof. Nweke, this total commitment to the cause of African development and the key role of root and tuber crops in it was evident at all times and he will always be remembered for it.

Prof is survived by his children.