Prof Hamadi Iddi Boga
Advisor: Agriculture & Regenerative Farming
Email: bogahamadi@gmail.com or hamadiboga@yahoo.com
Tel: +254 720483136; +254768412846
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A professional with over 25 years’ experience as a Scientist, Academic and Government Technocrat. His professional experience includes serving as the Principal Secretary at the State Department for Crop Development and Agriculture Research, and Vice Chancellor of Taita Taveta University (TTU) (March 2018-9th February 2022), and as an administrator in various positions at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) among others. This has led to a broad experience in building institutions and relationships with key government officials and agencies, development partners/donor agencies, local and international academic institutions, scientific research organizations and external stakeholders to ensure that goals are met and exceeded.
Has vast experience in fundraising, designing and directing public campaigns to effect public policy in line with Agriculture and ensured growth and value add to the community. Effective communicator and negotiator; able to successfully advocate policy with high level government executives, donors and business leaders. Passionate about use of agriculture as a socio-economic transformation and sustainable vehicle and spearheaded the development and implementations of the 10-year Kenyan Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy and the National Agriculture Investment Plan.
A talented executive leader well versed in reviewing budgets, program operations and established policies to ferret out inefficiencies and strengthen government structures. Successfully played key role in identifying and securing funding for vital University and National agriculture improvement projects. Demonstrated success in maintaining strong partner relations. An accomplished academic positioned as an influencer in Microbiology/Microbial Ecology and the Science fraternity. Was successful in strategically repositioning Taita Taveta University towards academic excellence as the founder Principal and Vice Chancellor. Proven experience in developing of concepts and strategies for the up-scaling institutions of higher learning. Made great impact in forming the next crop of scientists by supervising and supporting students in their thesis at doctoral and postgraduate studies. Adept in the conceptualization of local and regional projects. Prolific writer as attested in the scientific publications.
CORE COMPETENCIES
▪ Forward-thinking former Government Executive with advanced expertise in government regulations and procedures.
▪ Talented relationship-builder, problem-solver and leader with accomplished career in government.
▪ Articulate and diplomatic communicator with strong negotiation and organizational skills
▪ An accomplished academic and influencer in the scientific community
▪ An accomplished fundraiser successfully negotiating, leading and coordinating large national government projects.
Building, strengthening and managing strategic partnerships with regional governments, key partners, institutions and stakeholders.
▪ Ability to work closely with the stakeholder in the Agricultural Sector to harmonize the integration of the policies in line with the National Development Agenda creating inclusion in operations strategies and policy dialogues.
▪ Creating the necessary communication platforms and coordinating the transfer of knowledge, as well as sharing of best practices and lessons learnt across the relevant institutions of higher learning.
● Competent in staying on top of present-day events, local and international trends while guiding project set-up both nationally, regionally and globally.
● Managing and monitoring performance of the management teams, ensuring that all milestones set and the development of direct reports fostering career growth.
● Developing mitigation plans to reduce setbacks and taking corrective actions to remedy any deviation from the policies.
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
▪ Appointed by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya as the Principal Secretary in Charge of Crops Development and Agriculture Research from 2018-2022 and successfully brought to fruition the following reforms:o Finalization and Implementation of The National Agriculture Policyo Successful development and implementation of the Agriculture Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy that was adopted as the sector transformation frameworko Initiated the formation of the Agriculture Transformation Office as a vehicle for delivering the Agriculture Transformation and Growth Strategy.o Spearheaded the implementation of the World Bank Funded USD 130 Million National Agriculture and Rural Inclusive Growth Project and the USD 250 Million Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project.o Spearheaded the conceptualization of a new project “The National Agricultural Value Chain Support Program” to be funded by the World bank from 2023.o Spearheaded the development of the Youth in Agribusiness Strategyo Development of the Soil Health and Management Policy and successfully spearheaded the Food Safety and Food and Nutrition Policy and draft Bill.o Guided the adoption of Biotechnology BT-Cotton in Kenya after 20 years of stagnationo Reformed the fertilizer subsidy program and developed and guided the implementation of the new e-voucher smart input incentive program.o Spearheaded the development of the Kenya National Digitization of Agriculture Strategyo Reformed the maize sub-sector and operations at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and the Strategic Food Reserveso Finalized the Warehouse Receipting Council Act which is key to structured Commodity Trading in Kenya and guided the establishment of the Warehouse Receipting Council.o Led the successful fight against the desert locust invasion 2019-2020 in partnership with FAO and the Desert Locust Control Organization of East Africa (DLCO)o Led the Ministry of Agriculture in establishing a food security war room in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and ensured food security for the country. The Food Security War Room brought together the Government, County Governments, Private sector and Development Partners in ensuring food Availability, Accessibility and affordability. The Food Security War Room was later changed into the Agricultural Transformation office (ATO)o Spear-headed successful adoption of management practices against fall army worm a pest of maize introduced from the Americas
▪ Successfully managed to nurture and enhance the involvement of the Development partners in the national agriculture agenda
▪ Was a board member of various International Organizations including the International centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) Governing Council, CFOR-ICRAF and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF).
▪ Was a Board member of the Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat which has the mandate of driving Kenya towards a middle income country by 2030.
▪ Founded Taita Taveta University beginning as a JKUAT Taita Taveta Campus and expanded it to international recognition.
▪ Transformed TTU to the National Mining Institute and established a centre of excellence for Mining the Centre for Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering (CEMEREM) under funding of the German Government.
▪ Through global partnership Scholarship schemes were introduced for both MSc and PhD level studies.
▪ Established a Centre for training in Geographical Information System (GIS) under funding from the Finnish Government in Collaboration with the University of Helsinki. MSc Scholarships were established for GIS.
▪ Over the period of my career published over 78 Scientific Publications in peer reviewed Journals.
▪ Successfully supervised 16 PhD students and 32 MSc Students in my Academic careers in the various institutes of higher learning.
▪ Appointed as a Board Member of the World Federations of Culture Collections and was directly involved with the developing the partnership and link between JKUAT to Global Biological Resources Centre Network demonstration project.
▪ Was an influencer in Microbiology and as a co-researcher in the Africa Soil Microbiology (AFSM) project which studied the microbial diversity in soils in Sub-Sahara Africa.
▪ Helped to attract funds to complete setting and operationalize the Molecular Biology Laboratory at JKUAT.
▪ While chairman of the Botany department at JKUAT I was involved in the creation of areas of specialization in BSc Botany as follows: Plant Science, Microbiology, Plant Ecology, Plant Pathology and Plant Biotechnology. I also strengthened the Postgraduate programs in the Department.
