Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina

Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Dr. Adesina a distinguished agricultural development expert with 24 years of experience in developing and managing successful agricultural programs across Africa. He graduated with Bachelors in Agricultural Economics with First Class Honors from the University of Ife, Nigeria (1981), where he was the first student to be awarded this distinction by the university. He obtained his PhD (Agricultural Economics) in 1988 from Purdue University, USA where he won the Outstanding PhD Thesis for his research work.
Until his appointment as the Honourable Minister of Agriculture in 2010, he was the Vice President (Policy & Partnerships) for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Dr. Adesina has held senior leadership positions in some of the foremost agricultural institutions in the world. He was Principal Economist and Social Science Coordinator for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (1995-1998), Principal Economist and Coordinator of the West Africa Rice Economics Task Force at the West Africa Rice Development Association (1990-1995), and Assistant Principal Economist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. He was Associate Director (Food Security) at the Rockefeller Foundation where he worked for a decade (1998-2008) in senior leadership positions, including as Regional Office Director and Representative for Southern Africa.
He has published extensively and served on Editorial Board of several leading journals. He was the President of the African Association of Agricultural Economists from 2008-2010. He has received several global awards for his leadership and work in agriculture. In 2007 he was awarded the prestigious YARA Prize in Oslo, Norway for his leadership in pioneering innovative approaches for improving access of farmers in Africa to agricultural inputs. He was awarded the Borlaug CAST Award in 2010 by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, USA, for his global leadership on agricultural science and technology. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Purdue University in 2008, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Obafemi Awolowo University in 2009. He was awarded Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Franklin and Marshall College, USA, in 2010, for his global leadership on agriculture and improving the lives and livelihoods of the poor.
He was appointed by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as one of the 17 global leaders to spearhead the Millennium Development Goals. His passion is to use agriculture to end hunger, create wealth and jobs and drive equitable economic growth in Africa to lift millions out of poverty.
He has brought that passion to his native home of Nigeria, in his position as the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, where he is spearheading major reforms to transform Nigerian agriculture. Dr. Adesina has aggressively implemented bold policy reforms, ended decades of corruption in the fertilizer sector and pursued innovative agricultural investment programs to expand opportunities for the private sector to add value to crops produced in Nigeria. His passionate commitment is driving a new wave of change in agriculture in Nigeria, moving it away from a development program into a business, to reduce dependency on food imports, generate wealth and create jobs.
The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, recently conferred on him the second highest National Honor (Commander of the Order of Niger) for his outstanding service to his country over the last one year. In November 2012, Dr. Adesina was named as one of the 100 most influential Africans by The New African Magazine. He is married to Grace Oluyemisi Adesina, and they have two sons.