AGRA

J.J. Muhinda has over 20-years’ experience in agriculture development, research, technology transfer and academia. He has worked with National Governments across Africa, Regional and Continental bodies, Bilateral and Multilateral Development Partners (WB, IFAD, FAO, WFP, UNDP, AfDB, EU, USAID, AFD, etc.); Agricultural Research and Development Organizations (CG-Centres, FARA, SROs, IFDC, etc.) in various areas of agricultural research and development. Similarly, he extensively worked in different capacities with the private sector (i.e. seed and fertilizer companies, mechanization and irrigation service providers, inputs dealers, commodity off-takers, F&MFIs, agriculture insurance, etc.), farmer-based organizations and civil society organizations (NGOs) to advance agriculture development agenda in various parts of the African continent.

During the last decade, he has been the Executive Director of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA, Strategic Advisor and Senior Consultant to AGRA, between February 2017-September 2018 in areas of Government Support and Policy Engagement; Lead Consultant and Principal Investigator for the study on evaluation of agricultural inputs markets and inputs subsidy programs in 10 AGRA target countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2016; International Expert for the FAO’s program on land-husbandry and soil fertility improvement in the Republic of Sao Tome and Principe; Director General of the Rwanda Agriculture Development Board; Chairman of the Rwanda’s National Task Force for Irrigation and Mechanization. Prior to that, he served as Full Professor and Vice-Dean for Research and Postgraduate Studies at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Rwanda.

In the area of corporate governance, he serves as a Board Member of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) since September 2018. He also served as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors for the Rwanda’s National Agriculture Export Development Board, Board Director of the Rwanda Natural Resources Authority, and Board Chairperson of the Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Education of Kibungo . Further, he is presently a member of the Rwanda Academy of Science (RAS).

JJ is an Agricultural Engineer and Soil Scientist by training. He holds a PhD Degree in Agriculture Sciences and Biological Engineering from Gembloux Agricultural University (now the University of Liege, Belgium), with specialization in Soil Chemistry and Soil Microbiology. He further attended a Post-Doctoral Research program at the University of Bergen (UiB, Norway) under the Research Group on Biodiversity and Land-use Change. Additionally, he has a good track record of scientific publications, high level consultancy reports and feasibility studies in various areas of agriculture development.

He speaks the following languages fluently; English, French and Swahili as well as Kinyarwanda which is his mother tongue.