Career Profi les of Speakers/Presenters
Keynote Speech
Taizo YAKUSHIJI holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and is the executive member of the Council for Science and Technology Policy of the
Cabinet Office of Japan. He was Vice President for Academic and International Affairs at Keio
University, Japan, where he is currently a visiting professor. His expertise is in the area of science
and technology and international policy.
Rudy RABBINGE was trained as a phytopathologist and received his Ph.D. in Biological Control
in 1976. He was professor in Theoretical Production Ecology, in Crop Ecology and in Farming
Systems and is currently university professor in Sustainable Development and Food Security at
Wageningen University. He co-chaired the UN Panel InterAcademy Council on Food Security
for Africa and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. He is currently chairman of the executive
committee or board of directors of numerous organisations including Tropenbos International and
Royal Institute for the Tropics (KIT) and, Chair of the Science Council of the Consultative Group
on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Until recently he was also member of the Dutch
senate.
Jacques VAN OUTRYVE (ir) is agricultural engineer from the University of Ghent (Belgium). He
is deputy editor of ‘Boer&Tuinder’, the weekly of the Belgium farmers organisation ‘Boerenbond’,
and chairman of the Belgian Association of Agricultural Journalist (BVLJ). He is member of
the executive committee of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) and
specialized in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). He is lector of bioethics at the technical
university KATHO.
Ariyuki MATSUMOTO is economist from the University of Tokyo (Japan). His expertise is also
in the area of policy development, agriculture, forestry, rural development and international trade.
He worked at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for thirty years. Currently, he is the
Vice-President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Session 1
Osamu KOYAMA graduated from the Faculty of Liberal Arts, University of Tokyo in 1979,
and joined the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries. From 1986 to 1993, served as an
Econometrician at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome. His expertise is in the
area of food supply and demand analyses. Currently he is the Director, Research Strategy Offi ce,
JIRCAS. Also, he serves as a Lecturer at University of Tokyo.
Masa IWANAGA completed his Ph.D. in plant breeding and plant genetics in 1979 at the
University of Wisconsin. He worked for the International Potato Center (CIP), the International
Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI)
and Japan’s International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS). On 1 July 2002, he
took up an appointment as Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement
Center (CIMMYT).

Papa Abdoulaye SECK holds a Doctorate degree in policy and analysis relating to agricultural
economics from the Universit? de Dijon, France. He is the Director General of the Africa Rice
Center (WARDA) and is particularly noted for his in-depth knowledge of the national agricultural
systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Before joining WARDA, Dr. Seck was the Director General of the
Senegal Agricultural Research Institute (ISRA) as well as Advisor to the Prime Minister. He is a
member of the Academy of Science and Technology of Senegal. In 2005, he was conferred with the
title of Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Lion by the Government of Senegal for his services to the
country. Dr. Seck was the Chair of FARA and a member of the Executive Committee of CGIAR. He
was also a member of the WARDA Board of Trustees and of the Executive Committee of CORAF.
Currently he is a member of the Executive Committee of GFAR.
Mohan SAXENA holds Doctorate degrees in Agriculture from the University of Hohenheim
(Germany) and the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (India). He has specialized in dry area
agriculture. He worked at ICARDA , Syria, for 28 years and after retiring in 2005 as Assistant
Director General (At Large) he continues to be the Senior Advisor to ICARDA DG. He worked at
the GB Pant University of Agr. & Tech., India and the Arid Land Research Center of the Tottori
Univesity, Japan.
Session 2
Masanori SAITO is Principle Research Coordinator of the National Institute for Agro-
Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba, and also Professor of Graduate School of Agricultural and Life
Sciences, the University of Tokyo. He was awarded a Doctorate degree from the University of
Tokyo. He has mainly worked on soil microbiology and is currently extending his research activities
into various environmental aspects of soils.
Ryuichi YAMADA holds a Doctorate degree in Agriculture from Kyoto University (Japan). His
expertise is in the area of agricultural economy. He worked at Japan International Research Center
for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS). Currently, he is Senior Researcher of JIRCAS.
Kazuyuki YAGI, Ph.D., is a Leader of the Greenhouse Gas Research Project at the National
Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences (NIAES), Tsukuba, Japan. The research task of his
position is to study emissions of these environmentally important trace gases in association with
different land use and agricultural management. He worked at JIRCAS and joined a project on
nitrogen cycle in Chinese agricultural systems. Currently, he is a member of the IGBP-iLEAPS
SSC.
Joji ARIHARA holds a Doctorate degree in Agriculture from the University of Tohoku (Japan).
His expertise is in the area of agronomy especaill on maize, tropical legumes, crop rotation, and
soybeans. He worked at Tohoku Natl. Agric. Expt. Stn., Japan, Iowa State University, USA,
ICRISAT, India, Hokkaido Natl. Agric. Expt. Stn., Japan, Natl. Agric. Res. Center, Japan. Currently,
he is a Director General of Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Reseach Center, Japan.
Osamu BABA holds a Doctorate degree in Agriculture from the University of Tokyo (Japan) and
is a Professor of Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Japan. His expertise is in
the area of fi sheries socioeconomics.

Yoichi KANAZAWA holds a Doctorate degree in Agriculture from the University of Tokyo and is
a Professor of Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University, Japan. His expertise is
in the area of silviculture and forest ecology. He worked at the University of Tokyo, at the Forestry
and Forest Products Research Center(FFPRI), Japan, and the Tropical Agricultural Research
Center(TARC; the predecessor of JIRCAS), Japan. He was staying in the Philippines when worked
at the TARC.
Session 3
Shuichi ASANUMA holds a Doctorate degree in Agriculture from Nagoya University (Japan).
His expertise is in the area of soil science and plant nutrition particularly in soil microbiology. He
worked at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria, at the Kyushu Tokai
University, Hokkaido and Kyushu National Agricultural Experiment Stations and Japan International
Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Japan. Currently he is a Professor of Nagoya
University.
Patrick WAKHU holds a Masters degree in Survey Integration for Resources Development from
the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC) in the Netherlands
and is the Assistant Director for Research and Development at the African Institute for Capacity
Development (AICAD) in Kenya. He has previously worked at the African Wildlife Foundation
(AWF), the World Agroforestry Centre and the Department of Resource Surveys and Remote
Sensing, Ministry of Planning, Kenya.
Hailu DADI holds Bsc. degree from Alemaya University of Agriculture, Ethiopia and MSc. degree
from the University of Stellenbosch, Republic of South Africa. His expertise is in the area of Animal
genetics and breeding. He worked as a researcher, research center director and coordinate national
research projects. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student at the Tokyo University of Agriculture.
Wan RAZALI holds a Diploma in Agriculture from University of Agriculture (UPM) Malaysia
and a Doctorate degree in Forest Resource Management from University of Washington USA. He
is currently the Deputy Director-General, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM). His expertise
are in the areas of forest modeling, inventory and sampling, and forest management certifi cation.
Currently, he is also Vice-President Institute of Foresters Malaysia ? a professional forestry NGO.
Panel Discussion
Toshihiro SENBOKU holds a Doctorate degree in Agriculture from the Hokkaido University (Japan)
and his speciallized fi eld is Plant Pathology (Virology). He worked at Tropical Agriculture Research
Front (Okinawa) of Japan International Research Center for Agricaltural Sciences (JIRCAS) as
Director, at National Agricultural Research Center for Western region as Director of Research
Planning and Coordination Division, Japan, and at MAFF as Research Councillor, Japan. Currently,
he is the Vice-President of the JIRCAS.
Akimi FUJIMOTO is currently Professor and Director of International Programs, Tokyo
University of Agriculture (TUA), serving also the Secretary General of the International Society for
Southeast Asian Agricultural Sciences (ISSAAS) He is a Visiting Professor, Institute of Developing

Economies Advanced School (IDEAS), and Honorary Professor, National Agricultural University
of Ukraine (NAUU). He graduated with a Master’s degree from University of Malaya, and was
granted Doctorate degree from Flinders University of South Australia. His expertise is in agriculture
economics with focus on agricultural development in the developing countries and ecological and
economic agriculture.
Nobumasa HATCHO holds a Doctorate degree in Agriculture from Okayama University (Japan)
and is a Professor of Kinki University, Japan. His expertise is in the area of Environmental
Management and Agriculture/Rural Development. He started his carieer as an irrigation engineer
at the Minstry of Agriculture, Japan, and worked at FAO, Rome as a Water Management Specialist,
and now he is teaching at Kinki University. He is the Board Chair of IWMI (International Water
Management Institute) and the Secretary General of PAGE (Partners of Agri for Green Earth, NGO).
Takeshi HORIE is the President of the Incorporated Administrative Agency National Agriculture
and Food Organization (NARO), which is the largest research organization addressing agriculture,
food, and rural environment in Japan. He holds a Doctorate degree in Agriculture from Kyoto
University (Japan), and is a Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University. His expertise is on climate
change effect on rice production.
Masa IWANAGA
(See Profi le under Session 1)
Makoto KITANAKA, Master Degree in Agriculture from Kobe University. Joined JICA in
1985, mainly managed Agriculture and Rural Development Projects, and currently in charge of
Poverty Reduction and Combat Desertification in Sub-Sahara Africa as Group Director of Rural
Development Department.
Keijiro OTSUKA holds a Doctorate degree in Economics form the University Chicago and is a
professorial fellow at the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID)
in Tokyo and the director of GRIPS/FASID Joint Graduate Program. He is president-elect of the
International Association of Agricultural Economists, the chairman of the board of trustees of IRRI
from January 2004. He has been working extensively on cluster-based industrial development, the
Green Revolution, land tenancy, property rights and natural resource management, and the poverty
dynamics in both Asia and Africa.