Professor Ado Adamu Yusuf is an indigene of Gwaram Local Government Area of Jigawa State, Nigeria. He obtained a Bachelor Degree in Agriculture with First Class Honours at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. He also obtained a Master of Science Degree from the Wageningen University in the Netherlands and joined the Department of Soil Science (DSS), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria as Lecturer II in the same year. Shortly after his appointment, he won the Sweden-based competitive International Foundation for Science (IFS) Research Grant to conduct his PhD research in Soil Fertility and Microbiology in 2003 and completed the study in 2007. His quest for specialisation in Soil Microbiology was further enhanced by participating in postdoctoral trainings at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), South Africa and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan between 2008 and 2010.
Prof Yusuf rose steadily from the rank of Lecturer II in 2001 to Professor of Soil Science in 2013. Notable among his research outputs are; the delineation of cereal-legume rotation benefits into improvement in soil microbial biomass and chemical properties, nutrient use efficiency and quantitative separation of biologically fixed nitrogen benefits from other rotation effects which have been cited over 200 times on Google Scholar. He led the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) team to develop new fertilizer products for increased and sustained yields in the maize belt of Nigeria under the auspices of the OCP-IITA Project. He is a fine mentor, excellent team builder and highly resourceful. He has attracted funds from public and private sectors for consultancies and development projects in the Department of Soil Science (DSS), Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR)/Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria. Last year, he led a team of Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR)/Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) experts to win a contract to conduct semi-detailed soil survey of 125,000 hectares for Dangote Sugar Refinery in Nasarawa State. Nigeria and recently won similar contract for 90,000 hectares in Ghana, aside from winning the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) 2019 National Research Fund Grant.
About 20 undergraduate students have completed their projects under his supervision and has over 25 MSc and PhD students who have completed or studying under him. He has been a Major and Co-supervisor to many postgraduate students outside Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria. He has supervised students at Bayero University Kano (BUK), Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS), Murdoch University Australia and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) , Ghana.
Prof Yusuf has published over 75 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, seminar papers and technical reports. He is a reviewer to some national and international scientific Journals. Other community services include being an external examiner to Federal University of Technology-Minna and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) , South Africa. He has also been a key speaker at national and international seminars, symposia and conferences in countries like Benin Republic, Brazil, Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Korea, Spain and the Netherlands. He features regularly at the Annual Conferences of Soil Science Society of Nigeria.
Aside his academic and research activities, Prof Yusuf has great flair in administration. He was the Officer-in-Charge of the Agricultural Research Station Kano, Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) Samaru from May, 2011 to August, 2015. He was appointed Acting Head, Department of Soil Science (DSS) in January, 2014 and appointed substantive Head in August 2015, the position he held until July, 2019. He is a recipient of the Arthur Andersen Honours List Award, African Credibility Gold Award, the Department of Soil Science (DSS) Award for the Most Valuable Scientist in 2013, and 2019 ABU Postgraduate students Award of Excellence. He is the current Deputy Director, Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR).
