Principal Scientist and Agricultural Economist with International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Kenya
Hugo de Groote is a principal scientist and agricultural economist with CIMMYT in Kenya. He obtained his M.Sc. in tropical agriculture from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin, U.S.A. His research activities include the economic analysis and participatory evaluation of new technologies (stress resistant maize varieties, nutritionally enhanced maize varieties, crop management techniques, …) and analysis of policies and institutions relevant to these technologies (such as seed systems, credit and extension, and biotechnology policies). Previous, he was coordinator of the biological control project at IITA, in Benin, conducting economic analysis and participatory evaluation of biological control of pests such as water hyacinth, locusts and mango mealybug. De Groote also worked in Farming Systems Research, developing and evaluating new technologies in Mali, and evaluated group-based credit and loan associations as a post-doc with IFPRI, also in Mali . Before becoming a researcher, he worked as an agriculturalist in rural development for Non-Governmental Organizations in Togo and Thailand.