Tegemeo Institute gets new director

Dr Miltone Ayieko has been named the new Director of Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development, Egerton University.

Dr Ayieko takes over from Dr Mary Mathenge, who has led the Institute for the past eight years.

Prior to his appointment, Dr Ayieko was a Senior Research Fellow in charge of Outreach, Communication and Partnerships at the institute, and the Regional Coordinator of the Integrated Seed Sector Development Programme in Africa (ISSD Africa), whose secretariat has been hosted at Tegemeo Institute for the past three years.

He has more than 15 years’ experience in agricultural policy research, which has focused on rural livelihoods, seed systems, market development, technology adoption and agricultural value chain analysis.

Before joining Tegemeo Institute, Dr Ayieko was a lecturer at Egerton University’s department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management, where he taught Agricultural Policy, Agricultural Marketing and International Trade, among other courses.

He has also served in various ministerial taskforces and committees and advised on key policy initiatives to transform the agricultural sector in Kenya.

He specifically served on the Ministry of Agriculture’s Standing Committee on Seed that provided input for the formulation of the Kenya’s Seed Policy, and was a member of the technical committee of the Vision 2030.

He will now spearhead Tegemeo Institute’s research, analysis and outreach agenda in ensuring that the Institute pursues its mandate of providing credible research and knowledge for accountability and learning to catalyze agricultural and rural transformation.

Dr Ayieko holds a doctorate degree in Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics from Michigan State University, USA.

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Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development is a policy research institute under the Division of Research and Extension of Egerton University, established under Statute 23 (14-t) of the Egerton University Statutes, 2013 under the Universities Act , 2012 (No. 42 of 2012) and its Instruments.

The Institute conducts Research and Analysis on policy in the domain of Agriculture, Rural development, Natural resources and Environment, which addresses micro and macroeconomic policy issues with a bearing on farming, transportation, processing, marketing, and trade of agricultural products and inputs.

The research also hinges on sustainability of agricultural systems and natural resources as well as the environment and commercialization, income growth and food security.