Introducing a new staff member from University of Kassel

Deogratias Agbotui is an agroforester with a keen interest to use sound ecological, economical, and social principles to maximize production and ecological functions of agricultural landscapes in any ecosystem. He holds an MSc in Agroforestry from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science in Ghana, and a PhD in Agricultural Science from the University of Kassel. In his PhD thesis, he analysed the sustainability of traditional cocoa agroforests in Ghana. In SustainSahel he will particularly complement ongoing work of WP6: Benefits of shrub foliage for livestock husbandry.

Deogratias said, “My research interests are to understand carbon, nutrient and water dynamics in agroecosystems. Particularly I am interested to understand the biophysical interactions within agroforestry systems to make them resilient to climate change through the improvement of soil fertility, and an efficient use of above and below ground resources. Ultimately, I aim to gain insight, to discover and establish principles that will help solve societal problems of food security and natural resource management. I am very glad to join the Sustain Sahel project and to contribute finding solutions for an efficient use of resources in this region of Africa.”