Jan Nijhoff

Outreach Specialist

M.Sc., Cranfield University, UK
B.Sc., Wageningen, Netherlands

Phone: 260 - 1- 221021/22 & 234539
Fax: 260 - 1- 234559
Email: nijhoff@msu.edu

Jan Nijhoff is the MSU Regional Program Coordinator at the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa (COMESA), based at COMESA’s headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia. He holds a B.Sc. degree in Tropical Agriculture and Agricultural Trade (Wageningen, Netherlands) and an M.Sc. degree in Agricultural Marketing and Management (Cranfield University, UK).

He has worked n Africa for 20 years for FAO, USAID, IFDC, and MSU, most of which resident in the eastern and southern Africa region. His work at COMESA supports the planning and implementation of a regional CAADP program, funded by USAID, and the implementation of regional investment and policy analysis under the Guiding Investments for Sustainable Agricultural Markets in Africa program (GISAMA), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He also plays an advisory role at the Zambia Food Security Research Project, funded by USAID/Zambia and SIDA.

His professional interests include:

• Regional trade policy development for agricultural commodities
• Identification of investment opportunities for agricultural market development and production growth
• Regional maize trade development with a focus on market integration and market innovations through structured trading mechanisms
• The use of commodity risk management tools in food security management
• Regional planning of the implementation of the Africa Union’s Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP)

He is a member of the Advisory Council of the Worldwatch Institute’s forthcoming publication “State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet”.