Dr. Brhane Gebrekidan

Dr. Brhane Gebrekidan
Chief of Party, AMAREW in Ethiopia

E-mail: brhane@vt.edu

Expertise: Plant Breeder Specializing in Sorghum, Maize, and Barley

Education: Ph.D., Plant Breeding, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 1969. M.S., Agronomy, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, 1964. B.S., Plant Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Alemaya, Ethiopia, 1961.

Languages: Amharic and Guragigna (Native), English (Fluent), French and Spanish (Low-level reading and conversation)

Countries of work experience: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Mexico, India.

Experience Summary: Brhane Gebrekidan is a Plant Breeder who has been involved in research, teaching, and development work for over 30 years. He has been active in the improvement and germplasm development of cereals with special emphasis on sorghum, maize, and barley at n tional, regional, and international levels for about 25 years. He has developed and released several sorghum and maize varieties adapted to eastern Africa.

In the national development field, he has worked extensively with sorghum and maize national researchers and administrators of eastern and southern Africa. At the university level, he served as Department Head for Plant Sciences and taught plant breedin , genetics, biometry, and cropping systems for nine years at Alemaya University of Agriculture. He served as the Ethiopian national sorghum team leader and project leader. He was the eastern and southern Africa regional leader and coordinator for sorgh m and millet, under ICRIST (5 years), and maize, under CIMMYT (5 years). Dr. Brhane has served as the founding editor of the Ethiopian Journal of Agricultural Sciences. He has also served as a member of the External Evaluation Panel of the International Sorghum and Millet (INTSORMIL) CRSP, as well as its Associate Program Director.

Currently Dr. Brhane serves as Chief of Party for the USAID-funded project "Amhara Microenterprise Development, Agricultural Research, Extension and Watershed Management Project" in Ethiopia.