Prof. Amir Kassam OBE, FRSB, CBiol, is a Visiting Professor in the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, UK, and Moderator of the FAO-hosted Global Platform for Conservation Agriculture Community of Practice (CA-CoP). In 2005, he was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Honours List for services to tropical agriculture and to rural development. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (UK), and member of several international advisory committees and Boards. He has published widely.

Born in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Kassam received his BSc (Hons) in Agriculture and PhD in Agro-ecology from the University of Reading, and MSc in Irrigation from the University of California-Davis. Kassam’s research, education and development work is focused on sustainable agricultural intensification and natural resource management. Kassam has worked with a number of national research and development institutions, and with several CGIAR centers, UN agencies and NGOs.

He has served as: Research Fellow at the Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Northern Nigeria; International Scientist at ICRISAT, India; Deputy Director General at WARDA (the Africa Rice Centre), Cote d’Ivoire; Interim Executive Secretary of the CGIAR Science Council, FAO, Rome; Chairman of: the Aga Khan Foundation (UK); Chairman of the FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance Europe Foundation, and Chairman of the Tropical Agriculture Association, UK.