An Economic Assessment of Banana Genetic Improvement and ...

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 187
rigation, and farm-nonfarm linkages. He has a Ph.D. and M.S. in agricultural economics from
Michigan State University, East Lansing, and an M.S. in agriculture from the University of the
North, Limpopo, South Africa.
Josephine Mary Namaganda is a senior research officer / plant nematologist with NARO.
She earned her Ph.D. in plant nematology from the University of Reading, U.K., in 1996. Her
research interests are banana nematology and tissue culture biosafety, including environmental
risk assessment.
Jackson M. Nkuba is an agricultural economist and a researcher at the Maruku Agricultural
Research and Development Institute, Bukoba, Tanzania. Currently he is a Ph.D. student at the
Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. He obtained his M.S. in agricultural
economics from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (1996), and his B.S. in
agricultural economics from Sokoine (1990). He has experience in research management,
participatory approaches, and monitoring and evaluation of projects, and is interested in environmental
economics. His doctoral research is about the adoption and economic impacts of
new banana cultivars on the livelihoods of people in Kagera Region, Tanzania.
Kephas Nowakunda works for NBRP. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in food processing at
the National University of Ireland, Galway (2003–07). Kephas holds an M.Sc. in agriculture
(postharvest technology, 2001) and a B.S. in food science and technology (1994), both awarded
by Makerere University, Kampala. He joined NBRP as a postharvest scientist in 1995, responsible
for implementing multilocation evaluations of new banana germplasm. Kephas has also
been involved in international and national projects dealing with postharvest handling systems,
value addition, quality control, and management of quality control systems and marketing.
He was awarded a European Union Scholarship to train in novel food processing and
quality control systems and management in Valencia, Spain (2003). He has also undertaken
study visits in several countries, including Peru and Bolivia, to study the marketing and quality
control systems developed under projects funded by USAID/INIBAP. Following completion
of his doctorate, he will be responsible for postharvest, quality, and market-testing studies.
Before joining NBRP, Kephas worked as a quality controller for the Coffee Marketing Board,
and later as a quality control systems coordinator at the Coca-Cola Century Bottling Company
in Kampala, Uganda.
Ingrid Rhinehart is an economist who works with IFPRI as a private consultant. Her research
interests include spatial analysis of agricultural and poverty issues. She specializes in
spatial econometrics and geographic information systems. Ingrid holds a B.A. in economics
from Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, and an M.S. in agricultural economics from Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York, where she concentrated on human-wildlife conflict issues in
East Africa.
Ruerd Ruben is associate professor in the development economics group at Wageningen
University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. He holds a Ph.D. in development economics from
Free University, Amsterdam, and is chair of the Development Studies group at Radboud University,
Nijmegen, The Netherlands. His research activities are centered on economic policies
for sustainable agriculture and incentives for rural development in less-favored areas. He conducted
extensive field research in Central America, East and West Africa, and southern China,
focusing on the dynamics of land, labor, markets, and supply-chain linkages between smallholders
and retail outlets.