College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics

Bio-Info

Biographical Information

Former Research Specialist, and Associate Professor for International Development at MSU for over 13 years, Dr. Josué Dioné has more than 30 years of experience working with development policies, strategies and programs that focus on agriculture, food security and sustainable development in Africa.  Dr. Dioné has also worked as Special Adviser to the African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, helping her coordinate a set of major activities and high-levels events planned for the “2014 Year of Agriculture and Food Security in Africa.”   Dr. Dioné was awarded the Michigan State University Joon S. Moon Distinguished International Alumni Award in 2003. View Dr. Dioné‘s profile on LinkedIn.

Dioné - Prior Positions Held

February – December 2013.  Principal Advisor, Policies and Markets CTA/ACP-EU in Wageningen, The Netherlands.  Dr.  Dioné  assisted CTA in identifying strategic priorities for its engagement in advancing regional policies related to agriculture, food and nutritional security and related cross-cutting themes, in fostering partnerships with key regional institutions and initiatives, international development and financial institutions, research organizations and think tanks, in developing partnership projects with key regional organizations and mobilizing resources, and carrying out studies, multi-stakeholder workshops and capacity-building activities aimed at sharing lessons and experiences in agricultural policy formulation/implementation and value chain development.

July 2001 – November 2012.  Director, Food Security and Sustainable Development Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Dr.  Dioné led UNECA’s work on: agricultural development and food security; natural resources management; population and development; science, technology and innovation; and environment and sustainable development.  He initiated and led the conception and establishment/implementation of the Land Policy Initiative (LPI) with more than US$ 15 million mobilized; the Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa) and the African Climate Policy Center (ACPC) with more than US$ 25 million mobilized.  He spearheaded the establishment and running of the UN inter-agency groups in Africa on water (UN Water/Africa) and energy (UN Energy/Africa), and he promoted regional cooperation for the development of strategic food and agricultural commodity values chains within a framework of regional integration in Africa.  

December 1997 – June 2001.  Principal Policy Economist with the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.  Dr.  Dioné led/managed the formulation and updating of policies, guidelines and procedures governing the Bank Group’s operations in general, and for agricultural and rural development in particular.  He contributed to the preparation/review of sector and country strategy papers and operational documents on: irrigation, livestock, and telecommunication sub-sectors; addressing HIV/AIDS in Bank Group operations; Integrated Water Resources Management Policy; Policy-Based Lending, Technical Assistance Fund operations, and Governance; and Bank Group Field Offices.  He also coordinated work on the Bank Group’s strategies and policies with interventions of other Multilateral Finance Institutions, bilateral donors, regional cooperation organizations, and international/regional research institutions including the World Bank, other regional and Multilateral Development Banks, FAO, IFPRI, USAID, IDRC, CILSS, IFDC, IFAD, WFC, CFC, IUCN, UNIDO, and WTO.

December 1989 – November 1997.   Associate Professor and Regional Program Coordinator, Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University.  Primary residence at the Institut du Sahel, CILSS, Bamako, Mali.  Dr.  Dioné led the preparation and managed the implementation of a Regional Program for strengthening policy analysis and advisory capacities on agricultural development and food security in CILSS and West African countries.  He coordinated the identification, design and implementation of over 20 collaborative country-study projects focused on the impact of macroeconomic and sector policy and institutional reforms on income, investment, diversification, productivity and competitiveness of the food and agriculture systems.  He also contributed to mobilizing over US$ 20 million for the work of the Institut du Sahel on agriculture, food security and natural resource management. 

In this role he led the production of over 50 research reports, articles, policy papers and briefs, and organized over 15 regional and national workshops to set common research agenda, improve analytical capacity, and disseminate research findings to a wide range of decision-makers and stakeholders (governments, donors, farmers’ organizations, NGOs, etc.).  He also organized a study tour for policy makers from Ethiopia and Mozambique to exchange with counterparts in Mali country experiences in agricultural sector reforms and farmer’s organizations.

October 1987 – November 1989.   Senior Research Specialist with Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.  He conducted policy analysis of the interactive effects of technology, institutions and market reforms on food security and agricultural development in Mali.  He produced and disseminated various policy papers, articles and reports on food security and agricultural development policies in Mali and the Sahel.

November 1984 – September 1987.   Research Project Director for the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University, located at the Institu d’Economie Rurale, Bamako, Mali.  He designed, led and managed the implementation of a research project on agricultural market reforms and food security in Mali, focusing on the interactive effects of macro-level and sectorial policy reforms, institutional and technological change on farmers’ and traders’ incentives, strategies and investments in foodgrain production and marketing.  He produced and disseminated a dozen policy papers and briefs to inform and interact with policy-makers of the Government of Mali and donors on the scope and limits of market liberalization for improving farmer and trader incentives, strategies and incomes.  He also led the preparation of a second phase project, which successfully established the Agricultural Market Information System of Mali that is still operational and considered as a best practice.

April 1981 – August 1984.   Project Economist USAID, Niamey, Niger.   Dioné designed curriculum, prepared training manuals and taught courses in farm economics and management, agricultural marketing, and statistics, to over 300 students at the main agricultural extension school in Niger.  He organized, implemented and supervised household/village/regional-level field training programs for students.

January 1976 – August 1978.  Research and Teaching Assistant, Université Laval. Quebec, Canada. Dioné carried out a study of the impact of marketing boards on agricultural supply management in Canada.  And he prepared and taught courses in applied econometrics and agricultural development project design and evaluation at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

Students

• Guided and assisted a large number of  young Malian and other Sahelian professionals in food security and policy research

Pubs Online

• MSU Library
• AgEconSearch
• USAID Development Experience Clearing House
• EconBizSearch
• Books World Cat  

Notable Docs/Pres

• Welcome Address -Video by Dr. Josué Dioné, at the 2nd Targeted Workshop for GEF IW Projects in Africa in Addis Ababa in November. 2012
• Dioné  Comments - Partners Commend ECA’s technical Support on Sustainable Development in Africa.  2012.   Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 17 June 2012 (ECA) - African participants at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).
• Josué Dioné  - Comments on Agricultural Productivity & Food Security - Video. 2011.  Conference –“Increasing Agricultural Productivity and Enhancing Food Security in Africa,  New Challenges and Opportunities”  November 1-3, 2011, Addis Ababa
• Josué Dioné -  Keynote Statement at the Third Regional Implementation Meeting (RIM-3) Economic Commission for Europe, Jan 2008. Geneva, Switzerland.
• Sahel Regional Program for Strengthening Institutional Research Capacity on Food Security in The Sahel (PRISAS) ­Food Security II Cooperative Agreement, Michigan State University. January 1990 - September 2002
• PRISAS/INSAH-MSU-USAID Sahel Regional Food Security Project: Results And Impact. 1996.  by Josué Dioné and James Tefft. MSU
• Adjustment, Policy Reform and Agricultural Transformation in the Sahel. 1995. by Josué Dioné. Workshop on Agricultural Transformation in Africa.
• Food Security Policy Reform in Mali and The Sahel. 1989.  by Josué Dioné.  Paper presented at the International Economic Association World Congress, Athens, Greece
• The Use of Farm and Market Survey Data to Inform Food Security Policy in Mali. 1988.  by Josué Dioné Ph.D. thesis, Michigan State University

Projects

• Food Security II Cooperative Agreement.  [1992 - 2002]
• Food Security in Africa Cooperative Agreement.  [1985 - 1992]