Putso Nyathi

Putso Nyathi is a Senior Regional Technical Specialist in Agronomy. Based in Nairobi, she currently supports the design and supervision of IFAD-funded projects in the East and Southern Africa Region. She also supports policy engagement, partnership efforts and knowledge management in the areas of agronomy and agriculture extension.

Nyathi has 19 years of agricultural development experience throughout Africa. Prior to joining IFAD, she was a Southern Africa technical specialist for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. There, she successfully assisted local organizations with designing projects that improve farmers’ resilience, and also led project evaluations. Earlier, she supported smallholder farmers in accessing markets through capacity- and relationship-building between rural-based agro-dealers and input suppliers through a USAID-funded project. She also served with ICRISAT for six years, where she conducted participatory research to identify technologies that work in the smallholder sector.

Nyathi has experience in agriculture extension, sustainable agriculture, gender mainstreaming and project management. Her vision is to see smallholder farmers become resilient and take up farming as a business.

She holds a Master of Science in Agriculture and Development from the University of Reading, United Kingdom, a postgraduate diploma in Project Planning and Management and a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Agriculture from the University of Zimbabwe.