Global Forum on Agricultural Research News
The Steering Committee of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) has appointed Hon. Prof. Ruth Oniang’o as Vice-Chair of GFAR from the start of October 2013, when she will succeed the current Vice-Chair, Dr Claudio Barriga of Chile.
A graduate of Washington State University and the University of Nairobi, Prof Oniang’o was formerly Professor of Food Science & Nutrition at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology, Nairobi. She was the first nutrition professor in Kenya and probably the first woman professor in this field in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. She is widely recognized as an authority in nutrition; over a remarkable and multifaceted career she has influenced the development of nutrition training, research and development discourse in much of Africa.
Prof Oniang’o is always at the forefront of policy debate and practical change in matters of healthcare, agricultural research, food and nutrition security. She previously took a sabbatical period for five years from her university career to hold senior office as a Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for Education, Science and Technology in Kenya. She has served on a number of National Committees and Commissions including the Poverty Eradication Commission, the National Food Policy Committee, the World Food Summit and International Conference on Nutrition Committee, the National Standards Board, Early Childhood Development Committee, and Taskforce on Laws affecting Women and Children.
Twenty years ago she was also inspired to found Rural Outreach Africa, a grassroots-based development organization connecting research with rural communities to improve the livelihoods of poor rural people and which now runs rural development programmes in agriculture, gender, education, health, water and sanitation.
She is Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, which she established to provide an avenue for publishing scholarly works by African scholars and others with interest in issues related to food, agriculture, nutrition and development and to serve as a capacity building effort for budding academics from around the world.
Prof Oniang’o has also frequently served as a Board member of important international institutions, including the IFDC, IRRI, CIAT and Harvest Plus. She is Board Chair of the Sasakawa Africa Association (in which she succeeded its founder, the late Dr Norman Borlaug) and Sasakawa Fund for Extension Education, both of which are organizations mandated to assist smallholder farmers to enhance their livelihoods through agriculture.
