Contact Dr John Bidzakin
Background
John Kanburi BIDZAKIN is an agricultural economist with special interest in Socio-economic Evaluation of Agriculture Technologies, Project Evaluations, Agricultural marketing and Agribusiness Development. John has carried out socio-economic evaluations and bio-economic modelling of African land use systems. He has analysed commodity value chains to identify upgrading opportunities in maize, sorghum, soyabeans, peanuts, finger millet, cowpea and fonio in Ghana and Kenya. John has a PhD. and MSc. in Agricultural Economics and a BSc. in Agriculture Technology. John works for ¹û½´ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø as a research fellow and his current research focus is on the economics and social analyses of African land use systems for east and west Africa. He previously worked as a Research Scientist for Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI), Ghana for 10 years. He has led and supported the development of several agricultural development and research projects including AGRA funded Quality Rice Development Project, Ghana, USDA funded web-base marketing project, Ghana, USDA funded Cowpea Value Chain Development Project, Ghana. He has served as principal investigator and coordinator for some these projects and has published some of his research work.
Current activities
I am currently working with the Environment and Agrifood Theme within the School of Water, Energy and Environment at ¹û½´ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø. I am working with colleagues in the research team and with farmers and other value chain actors in Africa (East and West) to identify how new technologies and practices are affecting existing farming practices in terms of yield, labour, land, and capital requirements. The team is also developing bio-economic models aimed at predicting the short to long term impact of these technologies and practices on farm households and production systems in the participating African countries. We are also engaging with stakeholders in the crop value chains to determine the sustainability of the new technologies and practices in light of any alterations they may impose on land, labour, and capital inputs and resources.
Clients
GIZ Ghana
Oxfam Ghana
Institut du Sahel Burkina
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
International Potato Center (CIP) Ghana