Regional representative for West Africa at the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and project manager of the pod borer-resistant (PBR) Cowpea initiative, Dr. Jean Baptiste Tignegre has been named one of the recipients of the 2025 Top Agri-Food Pioneer (TAP) award by the World Food Prize Foundation.
The TAP award, unveiled in celebration of the Foundation’s 39th anniversary, recognises 39 outstanding individuals from 27 countries who are at the forefront of agricultural innovation and driving transformative change in global food systems. Tignegre and his fellow honourees will be celebrated at the prestigious Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa, in October 2025.
A globally respected plant breeder with more than 30 years of experience in legume and vegetables’ improvement, Tignegre has made significant contributions to agricultural development across West Africa. Before joining AATF, he served as the Principal Investigator for the Burkina Faso component of the PBR Cowpea Project and assumed leadership of the initiative in 2023.
Under his stewardship, the PBR Cowpea initiative has delivered high-yielding, pest-resistant cowpea varieties that have drastically reduced crop losses and improved livelihoods for smallholder farmers in Nigeria, Ghana and Burkina Faso. First released in Nigeria in 2019, the PBR Cowpea became the country’s first genetically modified food crop.
In 2024, Tignegre was instrumental in Ghana’s approval of the PBR cowpea, marking it as the nation’s first-ever GM crop release. He also guided Burkina Faso through the regulatory process for environmental approval, helping pave the way for broader adoption of the technology.
Tignegre’s recognition as a TAP awardee is a testament to his enduring dedication to innovation, food security and farmer empowerment. His career highlights include the release of four high-yielding cowpea varieties in Burkina Faso in 2012 and the development of improved varieties of onion, tomato, shallot, okra, and African eggplant in Mali and Ghana between 2022 and 2024.
He also pioneered Bt-cowpea research in Burkina Faso, leading the establishment of Confined Field Trial infrastructure and advocacy programmes engaging civil society and youth. Using advanced breeding tools such as SNP-based DNA markers, Tignegre improved traits including resistance to Striga and the pod-borer Maruca, as well as overall yield performance.
Congratulating him, AATF’s director of product development and commercialisation, Dr. Emmanuel Okogbenin described the award as a culmination of years of dedicated service to African farmers. “Since joining AATF, Tignegre has achieved notable milestones on the PBR cowpea project, including the release of the product in Ghana and the development of PBR Cowpea Xtra, a second-generation variety with enhanced durability and resistance.”
Beyond cowpea, Tignegre has developed low-cost off-soil vegetable gardening methods and has helped to strengthen seed systems and breeding programs across West, Central and Southern Africa. He has successfully secured and managed competitive research grants from USAID, AGRA and the Generation Challenge Programme supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Before joining AATF, he held numerous leadership positions, including cowpea and vegetable breeder at Burkina Faso’s INERA and the World Vegetable Centre (WorldVeg) from 1990 to 2019, Regional Representative for WorldVeg WCA-Dry Regions (2020–2022) and head of the genetics and plant biotechnology laboratory at INERA from 2007 to 2013. He has also contributed to USAID/IITA vegetable initiatives in Mali and Ghana and provided technical support to research systems such as CORAF/WECARD and the University of Mozambique.
His collaborative research spans institutions across Africa, Europe and the United States, including INRAN, ISRA, IITA, ICRISAT, Kirkhouse Trust, OXFAM, CRS/Cathwel, KAFACI, WACCI-University of Ghana and the Universities of California-Riverside and Virginia.
A committed mentor, Tignegre has guided numerous MSc and PhD students from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger and Mali. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and one book, leaving a legacy of scientific excellence and capacity building across the African agricultural landscape.
