Date: 24 May 2023
The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) Fellow Professor Rajeev Varshney was part of the eighty outstanding researchers, innovators and communicators from around the world that were elected as the newest Fellows of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences and the oldest science academy in continuous existence.
Prof Varshney was elected by the Royal Society for his contributions to food and nutrition security in Africa and Asia. His seminal work on integrating genomic discoveries in crop improvement for developing climate-resilient and nutritious legume crop varieties has received global recognition.
The 17 years he dedicated working at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics from 2005-2022 led to collaborations with research institutes in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Americas, where Prof Varshney decoded the genome of 12 tropical crops, analysed genetic variation in more than 5000 lines of legumes and dissected more than 30 agronomic traits at molecular level in three legume crops namely chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut. 
Based on his contributions, several countries in Africa and Asia (India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mali, and Ghana) have developed improved legume lines with enhanced resistance to biotic stresses and tolerance to abiotic stress and with nutritional quality in chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut. More than a dozen varieties have already been released in these countries and are grown by small-holder farmers. 
Prof Varshney’s provided instrumental leadership and oversight on the Tropical Legumes Project that facilitated the release of 266 varieties, production of 498,034 tons seeds, adoption of improved varieties of legumes in 5-million-hectare area and creation of 52 next-generation scientists in 13 countries in Africa and two countries in Asia. By assuming 0.2-hectare land per farmer, the Tropical Legume projects has benefitted about 25 million lives in 15 countries across Africa and Asia. 
Currently, Prof Varshney is the Director of the Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; Western Australian State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre; and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security at Murdoch University (Australia). His team is working on improving wheat, legume and horticultural crops for agronomic, and abiotic stress tolerance traits by developing and deploying novel genomics approaches such as pangenomics, haplotype cataloguing and functional genomics approaches. 
Prof Varshney is keen on building his international linkages with Africa and Asia while working in Australia through collaboration with the African Academy of Sciences and other organizations. He actively participates in international dialogues and has organized roundtable sessions such as the “International Partnership for Food and Nutrition Security in Developing World” roundtable session which was part of the Norman Borlaug International Dialogue in the Annual Meeting of The World Food Prize Foundation in 2022.
For more information on Prof Varshney’s election to the Royal Society refer to this press release and this magazine interview.
AAS congratulates Professor Varshney for this unique recognition and for his contributions to food and nutrition security in Africa and Asia.