Seed Systems Group (SSG) Chairman, Dr. Namanga Ngongi, announced Thursday, October 23rd 2025, that the organization’s founder, Dr. Joseph DeVries, will be stepping down as President of SSG on Friday, October 31st. This planned retirement will enable Dr. DeVries to spend more time with family members in the United States, after a career of almost four decades living and working in Africa. Dr. Issoufou Kapran, a sorghum breeder and seed systems development expert from the Republic of Niger and the organization’s current Vice-President for West and Central Africa, will take over as SSG’s President on November 1st.
Since its establishment in January, 2019, Seed Systems Group has consistently blazed new trails in agricultural development across much of the African continent. In keeping with its mission to extend the game-changing benefits of higher-yielding seed to farmers in left-behind countries and communities of Africa, SSG has implemented seed systems development initiatives in 15 countries. As a result, over 1.2 million smallholder farmers have been enabled to cultivate more productive varieties of their staple food crops, 56 seed enterprises have been assisted to professionalize and scale up their operations, and hybrid maize seed production has been achieved for the first time in seven countries.
“I honestly cannot think of a person who is better-prepared and equipped to take this organization forward than Issoufou Kapran”, DeVries said on Wednesday. “Dr. Kapran embodies the vision and ethos of this organization to the ultimate degree.”
Kapran holds M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in plant breeding from Purdue University and in 1990, released the first hybrid sorghum variety ever developed by a national research institute in West Africa. After serving as director of Niger’s national seed production agency, he was selected in 2006 to lead a $100 million seed systems initiative for West Africa funded by the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations and implemented by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). During his tenure, Kapran supported the development of 40 private, African seed companies, many of which are now industry leaders with seed production and sales in multiple countries. He mentored numerous Ph.D. students in plant breeding during their studies at the University of Ghana’s West African Center for Crop Improvement, and he catalyzed the startup of over 10,000 private sector agri-input dealers in West Africa.
“From his determination to see the West African seed industry establish itself and take off, to his commitment to developing the next generation of agricultural scientists, Issoufou has been a tremendous force for change”, Dr. Ngongi said. “He is more than ready to extend his vision and impact to the whole of Africa, and Seed Systems Group is just the vehicle needed for him to drive this change. Our technical teams go where others have not yet ventured and enable local farmers to achieve higher yields. This is what agriculture development is really all about.”
DeVries, who will join the SSG Board of Directors in January, 2026, stated, “I will continue to support SSG’s development in whatever way I’m called upon to assist. Over the years, my colleagues and I have had the privilege of helping farmers grow more food in 30 African countries, but the task is far from complete. This is an enormous continent, and there are still tens of millions of smallholder farmers who lack access to the improved seed and other technologies they need to adequately feed their families and get out of absolute poverty. As long as I can help out, I will do that. All farmers, no matter where they live and till the soil, deserve high-yielding varieties and high quality seed.”
SSG employs 30 seed systems development professionals working within its 15 program countries or at its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya and its regional office for West and Central Africa in Lomé, Togo. Since its inception, it has mobilized approximately $20 million for the implementation of its unique, end-to-end strategy for farmer access to better seed and more sustainable farming practices.
