Announcing the Sad Death of Professor Kwadwo Assenso-Okyere

The African Studies and Research Forum joins family, friends, and colleagues in mourning the late Professor Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere. Professor Kwadwo Assenso-Okyere was a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana (2002 to 2006) and a nephew to our own esteemed brother and former ATWS President, Professor A.B. Assensoh.

A statement released by the University of Ghana’s Director of Public Affairs Stella A. Amoa said he died while on an FAO mission abroad in Mongolia.

Professor Assenso-Okyere was a former Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), which hosts the West Africa regional hub of Future Agricultures. He was appointed to FAC’s International Advisory Council in 2013, and together with other members of the Advisory Council, launched the three regional hubs of FAC-Africa. He participated in the first Advisory Council meeting in Pretoria, South Africa and also attended FAC’s international conference the Political Economy of Agricultural Policy Process.

Prof Asenso-Okyere has researched widely on economic development issues and policies and published extensively in the areas of agriculture, international trade, health and nutrition. He has participated in the development of various agricultural and poverty reduction strategies in Ghana. From 1992, he participated in the research-capacity building dialogue activities of SADAOC (Sustainable food security in Central and West Africa) foundation and became the chairman of its management board from 1996 to 2002. He has collaborated with the Centre for world Food Studies at the Free University of Amsterdam, the Centre for Development Research of University of Bonn and the Institute of Development Studies of the University of Sussex on various research activities.

He was active in the International Association of Agricultural Economics of which he was Associate Editor of the journal, Agricultural Economics for eight years. He also served on many boards and committees in Ghana including the Central Bank and the Council for scientific and Industrial Research; and internationally including the UN University (Institute of Environment and Human Security), the Sustainable Innovation Council of Switzerland, Building Africa’s Scientific and institutional Capacity for Agricultural and Natural Resource management (BASIC) and the Global open Food and Agriculture University.

He won many awards for his contribution to development research and community development. He was a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Ghana Association of Certified Entrepreneurs. Indeed, Africa suffers from the sad loss of Prof Asenso-Okyere.

The African Studies and Research Forum joins with the nation to pray that his entire  family finds comfort and peace at this trying moment. A one week commemoration was recently held from Saturday 17th May to the 26th of May, 2014.

Submitted on behalf of the ASRF Executive Board,

Professor Peyi Soyinka-Airewele

President, ASRF

For more information: http://www.ghananation.com/news/61205-prof-asenso-okyere-is-dead.html