Climate Change and Multi-Dimensional Sustainability in African Agriculture

Rattan Lal , Ph.D., is a Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, The Ohio State University, and an Adjunct Professor of University of Iceland. His current research focus is on climate-resilient agriculture, soil carbon sequestration, sustainable intensification, enhancing use efficiency of agroecosystems, and sustainable management of soil resources of the tropics. He received honorary degree of Doctor of Science from Punjab Agricultural University (2001), the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas (2005), and Alecu Russo Balti State University, Moldova (2010). He was president of the World Association of the Soil and Water Conservation (1987-1990), the International Soil Tillage Research Organization (1988-91), the Soil Science Society of America (2005-2007), and is President Elect of International Union of Soil Science. He was a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on U.S. National Assessment of Climate Change-NCADAC (2010-2013), member of the SERDP Scientific Advisory Board of the US-DOE (2011-), Senior Science Advisor to the Global Soil Forum of Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany (2010-), member of the Advisory Board of Joint Program Initiative of Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI) of the European Union (2013-), and Chair of the Advisory Board of Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and Resources of the United Nation University (UNU-FLORES), Dresden, Germany (2014-2017). Prof. Lal was a lead author of IPCC (1998-2000). He has mentored 102 graduate students and 54 postdoctoral researchers, and hosted 140 visiting scholars. He has authored /co-authored 780 refereed journal articles, has written 19 and edited / co-edited 63 books. In 2015, Reuter Thomson listed him among the world's most influential scientific minds and having citations of publications among top 1% of scientists in agricultural sciences.
Bal Ram Singh is a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB). He earned his M.Sc. degree from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, and his Ph.D. degree from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, India. His program focuses on bioavailability and mobility of heavy metals in the soil and plant system, fertility management and agricultural sustainability in soils of the tropics and on carbon sequestration in soils under different land uses. He has served as chair of the program board "Soils and Plants" of the Research Council of Norway and the Research and Higher Education Committee in the department. He was chair of the Cost Action FA0905 on" Mineral Improved Cop Production for Healthy Food and Feed. Dr. Singh is a fellow of ASA and SSSA and a recipient of International SSSA award.
Dr. David Kraybill currently serves as project director for the USAID-funded Innovative Agricultural Research Project in Tanzania. His primary research interest is economic development. His work focuses on regional and spatial development processes that interact with markets and national government policies to determine the economic and social wellbeing of individuals, households, and communities. Dr. Kraybill's recent research includes studies of household poverty, household savings, governmental decentralization, primary and secondary education, and adaptation to climate change. Fluent in French and a Swahili speaker, he has lived in Africa a total of five years, including a sabbatical year as Fulbright Scholar at Makerere University in Uganda. Kraybill has served as Associate Editor or member of editorial boards of seven academic journals. He has received research and advising awards at Ohio State, and received the International Award of Merit from the Gamma Sigma Delta honor society. He has been consultant advisor to WorldBank, Rockefeller Foundation, Southeast Consortium for International Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and numerous governments and other organizations. He came to Ohio State in 1992.
David Hansen is currently employed by The Ohio State University to oversee the International Agricultural Research Initiative (iAGRI) a major USAID-funded higher education partnership project in Tanzania. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, he was a Senior Fellow with the Association for Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), Washington, D.C. His responsibilities there included the Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative a which promoted partnerships among U.S. and African Higher Education Institutions to build capacity in Africa. Many of them focused on agriculture, climate change and related areas, such as water, range management and ecosystems services. He collaborates with USAID, World Bank, USDA, land-grant universities and NGO's to help define the parameters of higher education capacity building within the context of the U.S. Government Feed the Future Initiative. He has dedicated his career to international development while at Ohio State University, having previously served as Associate Dean & Director of International Programs in Agriculture for over two decades. In this capacity he helped design and manage major institution building projects in Uganda, India, Swaziland, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Early in his career he worked on long-term overseas assignments in Brazil where he served as Deputy Chief-of-Party and Chief-of-Party for institution building projects.
Lars Olav Eik is a Professor at Noragric, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Norway. After graduating from NMBU in 1982, he joined Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania working on dry season feeding of ruminants and introduction of dairy goat keeping in Tanzania. After this assignment, he returned to NMBU and completed his PhD based on work with dairy goats in Norway. Since 2005, he has been the Norwegian coordinator for three major research programs in collaboration with SUA. He has also participated in research projects in Ethiopia, Malawi and South Africa. Working together with farmers and private sector, his main interest is multifunctional and innovative production systems for small ruminants, both in tropical and temperate regions. At Zanzibar, he is currently involved in a value-chain research program aiming to link stallholder farmers with upmarket restaurants on the island. In Norway he works with sheep farmers and indeed together they have observed that Norwegian lambs slaughtered directly from the mountain pastures have a distinct flavor and fatty acid profile, features that may be used for marketing of Norwegian lamb both in Norway and abroad. He has supervised a number of Ph.D. students, particularly from East Africa. At his home university he teaches small ruminant nutrition & production systems in temperate and tropical regions.
Theodosy Msogoya is an Associate Professor in Horticulture and Plant Propagation in the Department of Crop Science and Production at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania. He holds a PhD in Applied Plant Biology from the University of Essex in England and a MSc. in Horticulture from the National Institute of Horticulture and Landscaping in France. He teaches ornamental crop production, controlled environment horticulture and plant propagation to undergraduate and graduate students. He has supervised over 20 graduate students and has published over 40 papers in areas of plant propagation and postharvest of perishable crops. Currently, he is the Head of the Department of Crop Science and Production at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Chairman of the Technical Committee of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables of Tanzania Bureau of Standards and Chairman of its Technical Committee of Processed Fruits and Vegetables. Msogoya is married with three children and lives in Morogoro town in Tanzania.