An Economic Assessment of Banana Genetic Improvement and ...

188 ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Mariana Rufino is currently a Ph.D. student with Plant Research International, Wageningen
University, Wageningnen, The Netherlands. She did her M.S. with the Plant Sciences Department,
Production Systems Group, Wageningen University. The subject of her thesis is on-farm
analysis of nematode infestation and soil fertility as constraints to the productivity of bananabased
production systems in Uganda.
Melinda Smale leads a research program on economics and genetic resources at IFPRI and
IPGRI. Her research emphasizes the development of methods to assess the value of crop biodiversity
and the identification of policies to enhance the utilization and management of crop
genetic resources, particularly in developing economies. From 1994 to 2000, in Mexico,
Melinda worked on crop genetic resources and technology adoption issues with CIMMYT.
She conducted research in Malawi from 1989 to 1993 on hybrid maize adoption by smallholder
farmers and maize research impacts, also with CIMMYT. During the 1980s, she
worked in Pakistan, Somalia, Mauritania, and Niger on short-term assignments for CIMMYT,
Chemonics International, Volunteers in Technical Assistance, and USAID. She obtained her
Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of Maryland, College Park, her M.S. in
agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and her M.A. specializing
in Africa area studies from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies,
Washington, D.C.
David Talengera is a researcher with the biotechnology unit of the National Banana Research
Programme and a Ph.D. student at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He studied cell
and plant tissue culture under NARO and IITA’s joint banana breeding project between 1995
and 2005. He obtained his M.Sc. and a B.Sc. in agriculture from Makerere University, Kampala,
in 1994 and 1990, respectively.
Wilberforce Kateera Tushemereirwe is program leader, NBRP, NARO, based at KARI.
Since 1997, he has led a national team in R&D of the banana crop. For the past 4 years he has
developed and implemented successful projects with the goal of building crop biotechnology
capacity, with a team of young scientists eager to learn and apply biotechnology. Dr.
Tushemereirwe also has extensive experience and expertise in formulating and managing research
projects, using participatory approaches, communicating results to stakeholders, and
transferring technologies to the private and commercial sectors. He holds a Ph.D. in plant
pathology and an M.S. in botany from the University of Reading, England.
Stanley Wood, senior scientist/program head, joined IFPRI in 1995 and until 1997 was
outposted to the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical in Cali, Colombia, working
on impact assessment studies for regional agricultural research. Since then he has been
based at IFPRI headquarters, where he initially lead IFPRI’s research on spatial analysis in
a policy context and now co-leads IFPRI’s new Global Change program. Before joining
IFPRI, he served as an independent consultant to multilateral and bilateral aid organizations
on natural resource and agricultural systems modeling. He earned a B.E. in civil engineering
from the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England, an M.S. in water resources development
from the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, and an M.S. in agricultural
development and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of London.