Ramadjita Tabo

ramadjita-taboRamadjita Tabo is the Director of the Regional Hub West and Central Africa at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Prior to this, he was the Deputy Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) based in Accra, Ghana (September 2009-March 2014). Previously, was the Assistant Director of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in West and Central Africa and a cropping systems agronomist based at ICRISAT-Niamey, Niger. Ramadjita worked at ICRISAT for 23 years (1986 to 2009) and was based at various ICRISAT locations including Hyderabad, India (1986 to 1988); Kano, Nigeria (1988 to 1998); Bamako, Mali (1998 to 2002) and Niamey, Niger (2002 to 2009).He obtained his Ph.D in Agronomy and Plant Genetics from the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA in 1985 ; an MSc in Range Management in 1982 and a BSc in Range Management in 1980, both at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.

Ramadjita is a member of several committees amongst which is the Pan-African START (a global Change for Change System for Analysis, Research and Training) Regional Committee (PACOM) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He won several awards one of which is the prestigious 2007 Nobel Peace prize as a member of the IPCC and coordinated the Desert Margins Program (DMP) GEF funded project on arresting land degradation and conserving biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa and the Challenge Program on Water and Food funded (CPWF) project on enhancing rainwater and nutrient use efficiency in the Volta Basin.

His previous research activities included : i.) development and improvement of cereal based systems using an Integrated Genetic and Natural Resource Management (IGNRM) paradigm/approach; ii.) evaluation and promotion of fertilizer microdosing technology and the “warrantage” or inventory credit system in West Africa; iii.) enhancing water and nutrient use efficiency; iv.) intensification of integrated crop-livestock systems in the dry savannas of West Africa;; v.) adaptation to climate variability and climate change; vi.) M iti g ation o f land degradation and conservation of biodiversity. He has published over 70 papers in scientific journals and proceedings and co-supervised more than 20 MSc and PhD students.