Roger Leakey

Prof. Roger Leakey DSc, PhD, BSc, NDA was a former Director of Research at the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF 1993-1997) and Professor of Agroecology and Sustainable Development of James Cook University, in Cairns, Australia (2001-2006). He has been Vice President of the International Society of Tropical Foresters and is Vice Chairman of the International Tree Foundation. He holds a number of Fellowships in learned societies, universities and international research centres. He was a Coordinating Lead Author in the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) which was approved by 58 governments in an Intergovernmental Plenary meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa in April 2008. This Assessment examined the impact of agricultural knowledge, science and technology on environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development worldwide over the last 50 years and suggested that to meet these challenges agriculture has to advance from a unifunctional focus on food production and to additionally embrace more environmental, social and economic goals – i.e. to become multifunctional.
To advance agriculture in this direction, the author initiated what has become a global agroforestry programme to start the domestication of wild fruit and nut trees that were the staple diet of people before the Green Revolution. This initiative was proposed by farmers in Cameroon when they were asked what they would like to see done to improve their livelihoods and farming systems. This approach was implemented by ICRAF (now the World Agroforestry Centre) in the 1990s and has been very successful, with many impacts exceeding the Millennium Development Goals. This involved the domestication of new food crops that are unknown to most of us and their integration with staple foods on-farm to enhance environmental, social and economic sustainability by closing the Yield Gap commonly the cause of food insecurity. The value-adding and processing of these highly nutritious tree products is also creating local business opportunities and creating employment, adding to the positive benefits of this approach to farming.
In his book “Living with the Trees of Life – Towards the Transformation of Tropical Agriculture” (CABI, 2012) Roger presents the story of these changes in agricultural philosophy within the context of the authors personal experience of travelling and working in many countries of north, central and south America and the Caribbean; Africa; the Middle East; and south, south-east Asia and Oceania.
www.rogerleakey.com