Dr Yemi Akinbamijo is a former university lecturer and holds a PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences from the Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands. He has worked as the Head of Agriculture and Food Security division at the Africa Union Commission (AUC), as Chief Animal Resources Officer at the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources. He was a Member of the Steering Committee of IGAD (Inter Governmental Authority for Development) Livestock Policy Initiative and initiated the African Livestock Interest Group. Prior to joining the African Union, Yemi Akinbamijo has led the Market Oriented Systems Improvement Programme (MOSIP) with emphasis on sustainable resource optimisation strategies in urban and peri-urban agriculture at the International Trypanotolerance Centre, Banjul, The Gambia.
Dr Akinbamijo has accrued administrative and project management experiences in the animal agriculture domain during the last thirty years. As a senior scientist at ITC, he doubled as the Programme Officer and Principal Investigator of a multi-disciplinary programme – Horticulture and livestock integration in West African cities with emphasis on natural resource management in the context of crop-livestock integration strategies, nutrition biochemistry and ruminant nutrient metabolism under pathological conditions.
Dr Akinbamijo is a former Editor of the peer-review Journal Bulletin for Animal Health and Production in Africa. In addition, he led the Pastoralist Policy Initiative Programme at the African Union, has travelled widely in Africa and acquired diverse participatory skills in his dealings with grass root livestock producers in East and West Africa.
Currently, Dr Akinbamijo is the Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the apex body for agricultural research and innovation (R&I) in Africa, mandated by the African Union Commission (AUC) to implement pan-African actions aimed at deploying R&I to increase the continent’s agricultural productivity and competitiveness to feed its fast-growing population.
Since taking the leadership of FARA, Dr Akinbamijo has recorded tremendous successes in strengthening the organizational vision of FARA and injected new dynamism that saw the organization rebranded toward increasing Africa’s agricultural productivity, improving agro-industry competitiveness and increasing integration and strengthening of partnerships for the implementation of the Science Agenda for Agriculture in Africa.