Dr. Fentahun Mengistu of Ethiopia and Dr. Mel Oluochof Kenya were appointed as as Ethiopia Director and Regional Director, respectively, of Sasakawa Africa Association.
ADDIS ABABA (SAA)– Dr. Fentahun Mengistu is the new Country Director of Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA)/ Sasakawa Global-2000 Ethiopia. He has taken over the leadership, as of September 1, 2018, from Dr. Aberra Debelo, who retired at the end of August 2018 after 14 years of distinguished service to the betterment for the lives of Ethiopian smallholder farmers.
Dr. Fentahun Mengistu was born in a farming family in Gojjam, Amhara Regional State of Ethiopia. Having completed his primary and secondary schools in the nearby Dangila town, driven by his rural life, he decided to become an agricultural professional and joined the then Alemaya University of Agriculture (now Haramaya University) and graduated with a BSc degree in Agriculture/ Plant Sciences in 1989. He obtained his MSc degree in Horticulture (minor in Soil Microbiology) at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India in 2000, and a PhD degree in Agriculture Science with Honors from Boku University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria in 2008.
He served as researcher and leader in the Ethiopian Agricultural Research System for 29 years. Before he joined SAA/SG2000 Ethiopia, he served as Director General of Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), 2013-17. Before that he served as Director General of the Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute, and Director of Adet Agricultural Research Center. Between July 2017 and July 2018, he worked as Senior Agronomist for Tufts University on the USAID’s Agricultural Knowledge Learning Documentation and Policy (AKLDP) Project based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
He has been awarded several recognitions including: Diploma in “Inter-disciplinary team research in agriculture” from the International Centre for Development-oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA); Certificate and Graduate Diploma in “Leadership in ICT & Knowledge Society” jointly from Dublin City University, African Union Commission (AUC) and GESCI; Certificate in “Farmers Research Group” from JICA; Certificate in “Open Data Management in Agriculture and Nutrition”; Certificate in “Contemporary approaches in genetic resources conservation and use.”
In related news, SAA has appointed Dr. Mel Oluoch a Regional Director and he will be based at the SAA Regional Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Dr. Oluoch, a Kenyan national, joins SAA following a career in agricultural research, rural and value-chain development, and policy formulation. He brings to SAA a wealth of knowledge and experience in project management, capacity-building, and increasing smallholder farmers’ access to new production technologies.
Read more about Dr. Oluoch’s appointment at SAA
About Sasakawa Africa Association
The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) administers and manages Sasakawa Global 2000, a program to bring about food security in sub-Saharan Africa. Sasakawa Global 2000 is a program through which smallholder farmers are taught modern farming methods, including the use of quality seed and small amounts of fertilizer. It has succeeded in increasing production by 2-6 times for the farmers that use its methods.
The association’s other activities include teaching agroprocessing in Africa, to increase the economic viability of the Sasakawa Global 2000 program and improve the links between Africa’s farms and urban areas.