Dr Joshua Sikhu Okonya is the Program Officer for Agricultural Technology and Innovation at the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA). Under this role, Dr Okonya has facilitated regional collaboration in the development, dissemination, and promotion of priority agricultural Technologies Innovations and Management Practices (TIMPs) across 15 ASARECA member countries. He serves as coordinator of The ASARECA Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance, a multi-stakeholder partnership platform for coordinating CSA initiatives in Eastern and Central Africa. He served as a Research Associate - Crop agronomist and Regional Project Coordinator at the International Potato Center (CIP) from 2010 to 2021. While at CIP, his team leader Dr Robert Mwanga received the prestigious 2016 World Food Prize in recognition of the team’s tireless efforts in advocating for and promoting the production, consumption, and utilization of biofortified crops, particularly the orange-fleshed sweet potato, to combat malnutrition, specifically Vitamin A deficiency, within Uganda. Dr Okonya’s groundbreaking research has unveiled critical findings, notably identifying the occurrence of the Tobacco Rattle Virus in potatoes across sub-Saharan Africa and unveiling the presence of the Potato Cyst nematode in Uganda for the first time. Additionally, his contributions to the Pest Risk Atlas for Africa have been invaluable, providing essential insights into present and future pest risks under diverse climate scenarios. This pioneering Atlas https://cipotato.org/riskatlasforafrica/ includes actionable recommendations for managing significant insect pests affecting key crops amidst the challenges posed by climate change. He also worked as a Research Assistant at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). He has rendered consultancy services to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – World Bank Group, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Uganda Office, ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) - Netherlands, CIP-Uganda, IITA-Uganda, and Georg-August University-Germany. He is a professional member of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Climate Research Alumni and Postdocs in Africa (ClimapAfrica) Program, Entomological Association of Uganda, African Crop Science Society, International Society for Tropical Root Crops (ISTRC), African Potato Association, Gender Equity in Research Alliance, and African Group of Negotiators Experts Support (AGNES). Dr Okonya has over 70 peer-reviewed publications (including 23 journal articles, 6 policy briefs, 6 book chapters, and 23 conference proceedings, numerous mass media articles, multiple television, and radio interviews) in areas of climate change adaptation, food security, rural development, gender, pest management and public health. His publications have been cited more than 900 times Link. One of his papers won the “2019 Best Paper Award at the 11th Triennial African Potato Association Conference in Kigali, Rwanda. Dr Okonya has over 20 years of experience in the coordination and implementation of nine donor-funded (BMZ, UK-AID, BMGF, AfDB, ACIAR and EU) collaborative agricultural research for development projects in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Netherlands, and Germany. Some of the outputs from the projects helped to increase the utilization of climate-resilient crop varieties, reduce crop damage by insect pests and diseases in farmers' fields, reduce pesticide misuse and increase farmers' knowledge of integrated pest management. His research interests are in Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), nutrition-sensitive agriculture, rural development, digital agriculture and gender for improved food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Okonya obtained his PhD in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Hohenheim and holds a Master of Science degree in Tropical and International Agriculture from the Georg-August University, Goettingen and a BSc (Hons) in Botany and Zoology from Makerere University.
