Virtual forum: Operationalizing farmer-led irrigation development at scale

Dr. Mure Agbonlahor is a Senior Agricultural Production and Marketing Officer at the African Union Commission. He is based in AU-SAFGRAD, a specialized technical office in Burkina Faso under the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture. Among other functions, AU-SAFGRAD supports African Union Member States in building resilient agriculture-based livelihoods by promoting the dissemination and adoption of climate-smart technologies to mitigate the challenges associated with dryland agriculture.

Dr. Jonathan Denison is an independent irrigation and agricultural water consultant, mainly for the World Bank and FAO. He has more than 20 years’ experience in water resource and agricultural development across Africa, focused on smallholder irrigation, catchment management and related rural livelihoods. He spent much of his early career in the field working on hydrology, large dam and related irrigation design and then on participatory research with smallholder farmers. After a few years in government and with NGOs, he worked for engineering and planning consulting companies in East Africa, Italy and South Africa, including as a company director. He holds an MSc in Renewable Energy and Development and a PhD in Irrigation Geography.

Dr. Jean Kamwamba-Mtethiwa is a Senior Lecturer in Irrigation and Water Management at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in Malawi. As a researcher, she has participated, among others, in the development of a policy brief on farmer-led irrigation development investment strategies; and synthesizing science and reproducing syntheses to support policy and improve practices within the agricultural sector. She also works as consultant for the World Bank, focusing on irrigation, water supply and water resources management. Dr. Kamwamba-Mtethiwa received her PhD from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom.

Ronald Kato Kayizzi (R.Eng., MUIPE) is Acting Commissioner, AIMWfAP Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Uganda. He has over ten years of experience in the agriculture sector. He holds a BSc in Agricultural Engineering from Makerere University, Uganda, where he majored in soil and water conservation, a MSc in Water and Waste Engineering from Loughborough University, United Kingdom as well as postgraduate qualifications in irrigation and drainage from Tsukuba in Japan.

Osman Sahanoon Kulendi is the CEO and founder of Pumptech, a company recognized for water infrastructural development for industrial, domestic and irrigation systems using solar energy. He has over 18 years’ experience in water resource development and financing mechanisms for medium and small-scale irrigation systems in West Africa. As a distributor in Ghana of solar pumps manufactured by the German company LORENTZ, as well as a partner to many international development partners like FAO, GIZ and USAID, he has implemented a number of investments and results-based financing projects in the small-scale farmer-led irrigation market in Ghana and Africa.

Dr. Thai Thi Minh is a Senior Researcher – Innovation Scaling at IWMI. She also leads the scaling component of the USAID-funded Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small-Scale Irrigation (ILSSI). In these roles, she has been leading the co-creation and operationalization of adaptive scaling approaches for farmer-led irrigation development and agricultural innovation. She previously served as a postdoc and assistant professor at the Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO), University of Copenhagen, Denmark, from 2010-2017, and as regional director at Rikolto International, Vietnam, from 2017-2019. She has authored or co-authored nearly 50 publications, a third of which are in peer-reviewed books and journals. She holds a PhD in Agricultural Science from Hohenheim University, Germany.

Dr. Petra Schmitter is a Senior Irrigation Specialist at the World Bank. She was previously a Senior Researcher at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Her main research focuses on developing suitable water solutions for smallholder farmers to improve their agricultural resilience. Over the past 14 years she has mainly worked in interdisciplinary research for development projects in South-East Asia and West and East Africa in the field of farmer-led irrigation, water productivity, irrigation scheme modernization, land degradation and hydrological modelling. She holds an MSc in Bioengineering in Environmental Technology from the KU Leuven, an MSc in Water Resources Engineering from KU Leuven – VUB and a PhD in Agricultural Science from the University of Hohenheim.

Elias Awol Mohammed is Director for the Small-Scale Irrigation Development Directorate at the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture. He has more than 15 years of experience in irrigation development, watershed management, soil management, policy development and agricultural management in general. He holds a BSc in Soil and Water Engineering and Management and an MSc in Irrigation Engineering.

Gabriella Izzi is a Senior Irrigation and Drainage Specialist at the World Bank, which she joined in 2010. Her work focuses on irrigation development and rehabilitation, in both North and sub-Saharan Africa. She is increasingly interested in farmer-led irrigation development (FLID) and led the team responsible for preparing the World Bank’s FLID guide. Prior to the World Bank, Dr. Izzi worked for the FAO for five years, focusing on deficit irrigation, estimation of crop water requirements and yield response to water. She holds a PhD in Irrigation from Florence University, Italy.

Emile Ruzibiza is Head of the Department of Land Husbandry, Irrigation Innovation and Technology Transfer at the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board. In this role, he leads irrigation, land husbandry and mechanization infrastructure development, with a primary mission to increase production of staple crops and agricultural exports using techno-economic solutions that are easy for farmers to adopt. He holds a BSc and MSc in Engineering as well as a Master’s degree in Communication Management.

Dr. Alaa Elbably is Director of the Soil, Water and Environmental Research Institute (SWERI), Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Egypt. His previous experience includes working as an Irrigation and Sustainable Agricultural Development Expert at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock in Rwanda and as a consultant on agriculture and the rural economy at the African Union Commission in Ethiopia. He is a widely published researcher and has co-authored five books in the field of integrated water and soil management. He holds a PhD in Agriculture from Tanta University, Egypt.

Dr. Ahmed Elmekass is Coordinator of the Semi-Arid Food Grains Research and Development (SAFGRAD) office at the African Union Commission, a position he has held since 2009. Previous positions include Senior Researcher at the Animal Production Research Institute (APRI) of the Agricultural Research Center (ARC) in Egypt. From 1995 to 2002, he was seconded to Egypt’s Food Sector Development Programme as a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist. He holds a PhD in Agriculture Sciences (Animal Production) from Cairo University and has published numerous scientific articles on agriculture and land management.