PROF. DR. HAFIZ MUMINJANOV

Areas of Expertise

Conservation Agriculture, Plant Pests and Diseases, Integrated Pest Management, Organic Farming, Seed Systems, Plant Breeding.

Brief Bio

I am a graduate of the Tajik Agrarian University (Agronomist-Scientist, 1987), Candidate of Biological Sciences (Moscow, 1991), Doctor of Agricultural Sciences on Plant Breeding and Seed Technology (Moscow, 2000), Professor on Plant Physiology and Biotechnology (Moscow, 2004).

I have more than 30 years’ experience in the fields of agriculture and rural development with focus on conducting research and supporting extension, training agriculture specialists and formulating, managing, implementing and monitoring of development and emergency projects.

From 1990 to 2010,I worked as a consultant for international organizations (Asian Development Bank, FAO, GIZ, Sida, IFAD, etc.).

In 2001 I attended a six-months training on wheat improvement at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT, Mexico) and in 2002 attended a six-months training on project formulation and implementation at the International Center for Research in Agriculture (ICRA, the Netherlands) with the field study conducted in Ethiopia.

In 2002-2010,I worked as a Project Leader for CIMMYT-GTZ and Sida Projects supporting seed industry development in Tajikistan. As FAO Consultant, in 2004 I participated in formulation of the National Food Security Program and in 2008 developed Report on Status of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) in Tajikistan.

In 2010,I was an IFAD Country Presence Officer in Tajikistan.

Since December 2010,Iwas working as an Agricultural Officer (Plant Production and Protection) at FAO Sub-Regional Office for Central Asia (SEC). Since December 2018, I am working as an Agricultural Officer on Sustainable Intensification of Cropping Systems at FAO HQ in Rome, Italy.

I am a lead expert on conservation agriculture (CA) in the region. Under mysupervision, a number of national and regional projects on CA have been successfully implemented. I supervised a study on status of CA in Central Asia conducted in 2012 in cooperation with CIMMYT, ICARDA and the national partners. I also provided guidelines on formulation of the regional and national strategies on adoption and promotion of CA. I organized a number of regional and national training workshops, expert consultations and international conferences on CA. I also supported the establishment of the regional alliance on CA and opening a webpage that is used as a platform for knowledge sharing.

During last years, I have been supervising and directly participating in implementation of a number of projects on adoption and promotion of integrated pest management (IPM), development of Farmer’s Field Schools (FFS), sustainable grassland and pasture management, development of organic farming, improving livelihood of rural population by increasing access to high quality seed and developing nuts production, formulation of seed policy documents, conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources (PGR), etc. I am strongly supporting the establishment of the regional networks on IPM and on organic agriculture and opening relevant regional websites to be run by the partner organizations.

I have established strong partnership with Non-governmental and non-commercial organizations in Central Asia (e.g. Seed Associations of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Sarob Cooperative and MMK/ATAC in Tajikistan, AgroLead and Rural Advisory Service (RAS) in Kyrgyzstan, AgroInformationCenter in Azerbaijan) in joint implementation of the projects and activities.

I always support participation of young specialists and scientists from the region in the international training programs and conferences.

Under my supervision, 12 students successfully defended their PhD thesis and more than 30 students obtained MSc degrees. I am an author of more than 180 scientific papers, textbooks and extension materials. As a wheat breeder, I have authorship for twelve wheat varieties released in Tajikistan. I also hold two patents granted for scientific inventions in biotechnology and plant breeding.

I speak English, Russian, Tajik, Farsi, and Uzbek, understand Azeri, Kyrgyz and Turkish.