A citizen of Ethiopia, Tsedeke Abate joined CIMMYT Global Maize Program on 08 May 2012, and has taken over responsibilities from Wilfred Mwangi as the project leader of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project. Abate will be based in Nairobi, Kenya. He obtained his BS and MS degrees in agriculture from the University of Florida, USA, and his PhD in biological sciences from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.
Abate has a wide range of productive and successful experience in leadership and management of agricultural research and development. As project coordinator, during 2008-12 he led the Tropical Legumes II project jointly implemented by ICRISAT, CIAT and IITA in Africa and South Asia. Prior to this Abate was the director general of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). He is also well known for his passion for putting agricultural knowledge into practical use—scaling-up and scaling-out improved technologies to impact the lives and livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
Capacity development 