Burkina Faso national Abdou Tenkouano has been named the director-general of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe) from January 1, 2024. He will be the fifth head of the centre as he takes over from Segenet Kelemu, who held the position from November 2013.
“We are extremely confident that Dr Tenkouano will ably advance Icipe’s vision and mission, as well as the centre’s place in a fast-evolving world,” Kym Anderson, chairperson of the Governing Council, said in a statement on September 5.
“He has a prolific career spanning more than three decades in agricultural research, supported by immense scientific knowledge production, technology development and dissemination. He also has a strong track record in management and leadership, resource mobilisation, networks and collaboration, capacity building, as well as a reputable standing in the regional and international research and development sector,” Prof Anderson.
Dr Tenkouano holds a PhD in Genetics and an MSc in Plant Breeding, from Texas A&M University, USA; and a Diplome d’Ingénieur Agronome from the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. His research has focused on genetics, breeding, biotech, pathology, agronomy and postharvest strategies.
He has worked with teams to support extension and development of various crops including sorghum, millet, maize, cassava, yam, banana and plantain.
Dr Tenkouano has been the Executive Director, West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD) based in Dakar. He joined the Council from the World Vegetable Center, where he served for eight years as regional director.
Previously, he held a 12-year stint, and various positions at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), working on genetics, breeding and improvement of plantain and banana, cassava and yams. Earlier, he was coordinator, West and Central Africa Sorghum Research Network, International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), in Bamako, Mali.
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“It is with great pleasure and humility that I join the Icipe family. I firmly believe in inclusive innovations as the engine for transformative socio-economic development in Africa,” said Dr Tenkouano.
“I consider Icipe to be ahead of the curve, and I look forward to continuing the rhythm of continuation and evolution set by my predecessors,” he said.
Thomas Risley Odhiambo co-founded Icipe in 1970 and became its founding director. Icipe is recognised as the sole research institute working primarily on insects and other arthropods, and the only one that combines food security, human health, animal health and environmental health.
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