Kanayo Nwanze

Kanayo F. Nwanze was a Nigerian entomologist and development leader who served as Director General of the Africa Rice Center, known as WARDA at the time, from 1996 to 2006, a CGIAR research center. He held a bachelor's degree in agricultural science from the University of Ibadan and a doctorate in entomology from Kansas State University, and began his CGIAR career as a postdoctoral research entomologist at IITA-Ibadan in 1976 before spending 1979 to 1996 in senior positions at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT. During his decade leading WARDA he transformed it from a regionally focused body into an internationally recognized research institution, a period that saw the successful introduction of New Rice for Africa, NERICA, a high-yield, drought- and pest-resistant rice variety bred specifically for African growing conditions. In February 2009 he was elected the fifth President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, taking office that April after two years as the organization's vice-president, and he remained Board Chair of the Africa Rice Center at the time of his death in Lagos, Nigeria, on 16 February 2025.