Chiedozie Egesi is currently the Executive Director of the National Root Crops Research Institute, in Umudike, Nigeria. He has also served as a Senior Scientist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan, Nigeria. Chiedozie was also the global project director for the NextGen Cassava project (nextgencassava.org). NextGen Cassava work led to the acceleration of the rate of genetic improvement of cassava across the world.  Chiedozie is one of Africa’s leading cassava breeders and has a very good understanding of the different value chains of the crop.

He has led efforts at developing and releasing 40 improved varieties of cassava including pro-vitamin A varieties to cassava farmers. His research activities involved the use of cross-cutting breeding and genomics technology tools in the genetic improvement of cassava. Chiedozie supports several African countries in developing adaptive cassava breeding schemes. In 2017, he was appointed an adjunct professor in Plant Breeding and Genetics by the Cornell University. He has served as project advisor for more than 10 PhD students in the area of plant breeding and genetics. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the African Plant Breeders Association and also the pioneer President of the Nigeria Plant Breeders Association. He is a fellow of the Agricultural Society of Nigeria and of the Biotechnology Society of Nigeria.