About the 2013 Lecturer | Dr. Ruben G. Echeverria
Born in Uruguay, Ruben has worked on agricultural and rural development issues for more than 30 years. He studied Agronomy at the University of Uruguay (B.Sc. 1980) and Agriculture Economics at the University of Minnesota, USA (M.Sc. 1985, Ph.D. 1988).
In the mid-1980s, he conducted field research at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico. He later worked on agricultural research policy issues and strengthening national research capacities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, based at the International Service for National Agricultural Research of the CGIAR, located in The Hague, Netherlands.
In 1992, he joined the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. where he worked at the Agriculture and the Environment divisions in preparation of several agricultural and rural development projects in Latin America. From 2000 to 2004, he was director of agriculture and rural development.
From 2004 to early 2009, he was the Executive Director of the Science Council of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), based at Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy. From there he worked with the 15 Centers of the CGIAR on priorities and strategies, impact assessment, monitoring and evaluation and the mobilization of science.
Since March 2009 Dr. EcheverrÃa is the Director General of International Center for Tropical Agriculture - CIAT (a CGIAR Center) based in Colombia.
About CIAT: International Center for Tropical Agriculture
CIAT was established in 1967 with its mission to reduce hunger and poverty, and improve human health in the tropics through research aimed at increasing the eco-efficiency of agriculture.
CIAT has a global research mandate related to food security (rice, beans, forages, cassava, biotechnology), and natural resources (agronomy and soils) and policy analysis (adaptation to climate change, ecosystem services, linking farmers to markets, gender analysis, impact assessment).
CIAT staff (850 total) includes 200 researchers and 400 professionals working in S.E.Asia (based in Hanoi, Vietnam), Sub-Saharan Africa (based in Nairobi, Kenya) and in Latin America and the Caribbean (from its headquarters in Cali, Colombia).