Today, plant scientist Pamela Afokpe, R&D Operations Manager at East-West Seed (www.EastWestSeed.com) West Africa, accepts the 2026 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application at the World Food Prize Foundation in Des Moines, Iowa.
Endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Borlaug Field Award honors exceptional on-the-ground scientific achievement by individuals under 40. Afokpe is being recognized for her pioneering work in transforming African indigenous vegetables, historically dismissed by the formal seed sector, into high-performing, commercial opportunities for smallholder farmers.
Afokpe accepts the honor on the same Des Moines stage where her mentor, the late Simon N. Groot, founder of East-West Seed, received the World Food Prize in 2019. This marks a continuation of East-West Seed’s legacy on that stage seven years later.
Bridging world-class genetics and last-mile field impact
Despite feeding millions for generations, indigenous crops like Gboma (Solanum macrocarpon), Amaranth, and Jute Mallow (Corchorus olitorius) have suffered from decades of institutional underinvestment. Operating from East-West Seed’s research hub at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture campus in Benin, Afokpe challenged the industry assumption that indigenous crops were commercially unviable. When skeptics argued that smallholders would only recycle farm-saved seed, Afokpe demonstrated that farmers relied on saved seed due to a lack of improved commercial alternatives, not preference.
Beginning in 2017 in a rented field with manual irrigation, Afokpe built the regional research platform from the ground up, collecting over 2,000 regional crop accessions across West Africa. Concurrently, while leading regional operations, she secured a competitive Wageningen Graduate School Sandwich PhD scholarship with Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands. Her academic research has yielded published peer-reviewed findings on the genetic diversity and pest resistance of Jute Mallow, bridging advanced plant biosystematics with field-level breeding.
Her primary commercial breakthrough, the Sika Gboma variety, introduced intermediate tolerance to Bacterial Wilt (Ralstonia spp.), a pathogen causing historic field losses of up to 100%, alongside extended post-harvest shelf life.
Championing “opportunity crops” and the VACS vision
Afokpe’s work directly exemplifies the core mission of the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS) initiative, a global partnership led by the U.S. State Department, the FAO, and the African Union that champions “opportunity crops” as essential to climate-resilient nutrition and soil health.
Critically, Afokpe recognized that agricultural science only succeeds if it reaches the market. She replaced traditional seed broadcasting with precise nursery management, cutting farmer input costs by 40%. To prove commercial viability, she conducted open-air shelf-life demonstrations directly with female market traders, proving that Sika’s reduced post-harvest spoilage translated into higher daily household margins. Market demand grew so intense that female retailers began pre-booking harvests directly on farmers’ plots before production even began.
To date, Sika has generated over 3,000 tons of produce equivalent in its first three years, reaching tens of thousands of smallholder farmers and female retailers across West and Central Africa. The breakthrough earned Afokpe East-West Seed’s global Platinum Helix R&D Award in 2025.
Inspiring visionary leadership across Africa
Afokpe is a One Planet Fellow recognized for her leadership in addressing climate challenges in agriculture. Balancing field research and doctoral thesis writing while managing motherhood and navigating regional gender stereotypes in agricultural fieldwork, she has become a leading advocate for women across agricultural value chains.
“African indigenous vegetables belong at the center of the global food security map,” states Pamela Afokpe in her acceptance remarks. “By bringing rigorous science to the crops our grandmothers grew, we are proving that smallholder farmers and market women can drive viable, commercial value chains when given access to quality seed genetics.”
“Pamela represents exactly the type of scientist Dr. Borlaug championed: combining rigorous genomic science with tangible, last-mile impact,” noted Prof. Eric Schranz, Chair of the Biosystematics Group at Wageningen University & Research. “Her work has established a fully functioning research platform that is actively transforming indigenous vegetable systems across West Africa.”
Scaling across Africa: A Fortune “Change the World” legacy
Afokpe’s journey was deeply inspired by Simon Groot’s smallholder-first philosophy, particularly East-West Seed’s historic decision to make high-quality seeds accessible through small, affordable packages tailored to smallholders. As East-West Seed expands its footprint across West Africa, Afokpe’s leadership as R&D Operations Manager signals the company’s commitment to scaling indigenous seed research across the continent.
Her work reinforces why East-West Seed was named to Fortune’s 2026 ‘Change the World’ list, recognizing companies that drive positive social impact through core business strategy.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of East-West Seed.
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About East-West Seed:
Founded by 2019 World Food Prize Laureate Simon Groot, East-West Seed is a global leader in tropical vegetable breeding, serving millions of smallholder farmers across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Recognized on Fortune’s 2026 ‘Change the World’ list, East-West Seed is dedicated to improving smallholder livelihoods through high-quality seeds, practical agronomic training, and market-focused innovation.
For further information, please visit our website: www.EastWestSeed.com