Interview with Dr. Kehinde MAKINDE

Dr. MAKINDE gives us an insight in his long experience which has lead him to start working for AGRA and how this is the fulfillment of a childhood's dream.

Profile of Dr Kehinde MAKINDE

Dr Kehinde Makinde is an Agricultural Economist with over 20 years of progressive experience in national and international agricultural research and development including market-led smallholder agricultural commercialization. His professional background encompasses diverse research-for-development projects, with primary concentration on developing programs that links low-level agricultural production issues to the potentials for market-led agricultural commercialization. At the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr. Makinde implemented programs that transferred improved agricultural technologies to smallholder farmers in different agroecologies of SubSaharan Africa for close to two decades. In addition, he also has demonstrated ability in coordinating multi-stakeholder USAID initiatives responding to the needs of smallholder farmers, traders and private sector actors. He designed and implemented real time market information system for smallholder farmers alongside linkages to credit, input and output markets in Nigeria. Prior to joining AGRA as Program Officer, AgroDealer Development, Dr. Makinde was the Agricultural marketing specialist and business manager of the southern business promotion office of USAID funded MARKETS project where he facilitated markets for selected agricultural commodities and stimulated production to meet established demands as a strategy to increase rural incomes, sales and jobs in Nigeria. He is a consultant to several international organizations including CIAT, FAO, DFID, CTA, IFDC, Rockefeller Foundation and Winrock International. He has authored several publications in scientific journals, proceedings, book/book chapters, and technical reports.