Professional Experience:
Since June 2010 Dr. Eklou ATTIOGBEVI-SOMADO is principal agronomist with the African Development Bank, to support Bank’s Agriculture Department lending program, knowledge and portfolio management and fund raising program. In January-June 2010, he worked as a consultant for the Bank-hosted African Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM) to lead the review and finalization of strategic operational documents.
Somado has more than 20 years of interdisciplinary experience in international agricultural research (CGIAR), particularly related to food security issues in Africa. Before joining the Bank, Somado worked for the CGIAR-supported Africa Rice Centre (AfricaRice), Côte d’Ivoire for many years, rising to the position of a principal agronomist and Project Leader.
He has been involved in several collaborative research for development initiatives, involving natural and plant genetic resources management, use and conservation and research networking and partnership in public-sector agriculture research in Africa. As a Principal Scientist at AfricaRice, Dr. Attiogbevi-Somado’s key duties included developing and conducting strategic and applied research on integrated soil fertility management and genetic resources to improve natural resources management for enhanced agricultural productivity in smallholder farming systems in Africa. He coordinated Africa-wide multi-country donor-funded projects, facilitating training programs for the partners of the national agricultural research systems (NARS) in Africa, and supervising graduate students, among other duties. Dr. Attiogbevi-Somado held various positions at AfricaRice including as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Plant Genetic Resources, Coordinator of the International Network for Genetic Evaluation of Rice in Africa (INGER-Africa), the largest research and innovation network to catalyze regional efforts in public-sector rice genetic enhancement programs in Africa.
Prior to joining AfricaRice, from 1991-1995, Somado was a Research Assistant in Plant Genetic Enhancement Program of the CGIAR-supported International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Sahelian Center in Niamey, Niger, where he contributed to develop training programs in agricultural research for technicians in the NARS. Somado also worked with the Togo-headquartered Africa Division of the International Fertilizer Development Center as a Research Fellow and a Consultant Agronomist.