Prof. Martin Shem

Prof. Martin Ndabikunze Shem is a Chair board member of Mrutu Agro-Solutions Company Limited. He was born in 1957 and is a citizen of Tanzania. He is a graduate of the Universities of Dar- es- salaam, Tanzania (BSc. Agric. (Hons), MSc. and PhD from the University of Guelph, Canada and the University of Aberdeen UK respectively. He worked at the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) Morogoro Tanzania since 1982 to 2012 when he took early retirement with a rank of full Professor to concentrate on farming and consultancy. From June, 2005 to June 2007) he worked in Rwanda on a sabbatical leave from SUA as a Senior Scientist at the Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR). He also worked as a senior consultant in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), Rwanda (from June 2007 to November 2008) and for one year (2010-2011) as the Director General of the Rwanda Agriculture Board where he helped in the integration of Research and extension services into one institution. His wide experience in integrated research for development and as a consultant in many areas in agriculture research and policy development, research and livestock and agriculture strategies; and implementation plans has given him first-hand experience and a deep insight onto how use modern agricultural technologies and good planning along the components of the Agricultural value chain can accelerate agriculture development in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has an excellent track record of winning awards, competitive research and development funds from many donors including the World Bank IFAD, FARA, FAO, NORAD, Kilimo Trust, DANIDA, ADB and CGIAR systems. Some of the international research awards he has won include the Matsumae International Foundation (MIF), International Development and Research Centre of Canada (IDRC), International Foundation for Science (IFS) and twice has won the Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) award. His innovative agribusiness business plans were twice (2008 and 2009) selected as finalist under the World Bank managed competitive Development Market Place Programme. From 2004 to 2006, Prof. Shem was the Chairperson of the Technical Support Group of ASARECA’s (Association for strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa), which reviewed competitive research projects funded by the EU. Under ASARECA Prof. Shem gained a lot of experience in developing implementation guidelines, research grants reviewing and in formulation, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation of projects. Prof. Shem is a large scale farmer and cattle breeder in Morogoro region of Tanzania and has a lot of experience in the formation of public, private sector, civil society partnerships. In 2002 he spearheaded the formation of the Tanzania Milk Producers Association (TAMPRODA), an apex farmers association with branches in all districts of Tanzania. He was its first chairperson up to 2008. Prof. Shem was a member of the Tanzania Dairy Farmers General Assembly and the Tanzania Dairy Board for 6 years (June 2002 to June 2008). He is a member of the Tanzania Private Sector Federation and is a director in a number of private agro-processing firms. In 2014 he was nominated by his professional colleagues as one of the role models in Africa (www.mafs-africa.org). Prof. Shem has enormous ability to learn and act quickly, to apply knowledge and to adapt to new situations. He has excellent leadership qualities and can take initiatives, work under pressure, decide on priorities and meet deadlines. His ability to delegate and use modern communication techniques has enabled him to successfully carry out his academic, research and consultancy without affecting his ability to deliver on expected outputs. Prof. Shem has great ability to make presentations and write well under pressure and to meet deadlines. He has published more than 100 papers in international, journals and workshop proceedings an professional reports