Joseph Jojo Baidu-Forson, a Ghanaian national, is the Director for Bioversity International’s Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Office based at Nairobi in Kenya. In addition to joint supervision of Bioversity’s Scientific Programme staff based in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, Jojo supervises administrative staff based in the region. Jojo is also a member of Bioversity’s Priorities and Strategies Committee which meets three times a year to consider and take decisions on programmatic priorities and strategies. Immediately, prior to joining Bioversity in April 2006, Jojo had worked for nine years as Senior Research Fellow at the United Nations University’s (UNU) Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (INRA). This is a senior research management position through which Jojo, in conformity with UNU’s networking modus operandi, was responsible for developing international partnerships to enhance and to nurture the capacity of African scientists and scholars working on conservation and use of natural resources to respond to pressing developmental challenges of poverty and food insecurity in Africa. After completing his doctorate in Agricultural Economics at Cornell University in USA in 1987, Jojo worked for nine years at International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Africa (ICRISAT) as Assistant Principal Economist, Principal Economist and Principal Scientist (Economics), in India and then in West and Central Africa. Notable contributions of his research to literature include work on plant trait preferences modeling, participatory evaluation of varieties, and methodologies for understanding and assessing technology adoption. Jojo began his professional career in 1979 as a Lecturer in Agricultural Economics at the University of Ghana, Legon, after completion of a Masters degree in Agricultural Economics at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, in USA. Jojo is fluent in English and French.

Bioversity International (Bioversity, for short) is an international research organization dedicated solely to the conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity. It is non-profit and independently operated, and a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Bioversity undertakes, encourages and supports research and other activities on the use and conservation of agricultural biodiversity, especially genetic resources, to create more productive, resilient and sustainable harvests. The goal of the organization is to promote the greater well-being of people, particularly poor people in developing countries, by helping them to achieve food security, to improve their health and nutrition, to boost their incomes, and to conserve the natural resources on which they depend. Bioversity works with a global range of partners to maximize impact, to develop capacity, and to empower stakeholders.