Dr. Andrew Mwihia Karanja Phd. has been nominated by President William Ruto as the Cabinet Secretary in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Here is a brief profile of the nominee.
Dr. Karanja has over 35 years’ experience in the public sector both locally and internationally in the fields of agriculture, rural development, and finance.
He started his career as an extension officer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. He also worked as a Planning Officer in the same ministry.
Later he joined Coffee Research Foundation (CRF) as a Senior Agricultural Economist and Head of Economics Department. During his tenure of eleven years at CRF, Dr Karanja worked in various capacities including working with Cocoa Board of Ghana and the International Coffee Organization (ICO) and the Intra-Africa Coffee Organization. During his tenure at CRF he worked as a member of various committees, task forces and commissions that spearheaded the reform of the coffee industry in 1990s.
He was a research fellow at Tegemeo Policy Research Institute in 2002, where he undertook policy research on the liberalization of the dairy industry, among others.
Dr. Karanja joined the World Bank in 2003, as a Senior Agricultural Economist in charge of World Bank agriculture portfolio in Kenya and in the region. Duties include preparation and supervision of World Bank lending operations in the agricultural and environment sectors (worth over US$300 million) as a task team leader, undertaking and supervision of policy analysis on various rural/agricultural issues, coordination activities with other development partners and the Government of Kenya.
Currently he was working as an independent consultant in various fields of rural development and agriculture, project evaluation, and impact assessment. Recent consultancies include programs funded by the Government of Kenya, World Bank, African Development Bank, USAID, European Union (EU), Private sector companies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) among others.
He has published over 26 papers and book chapters in both international and local publications. He has been given several awards and fellowships. In performance of his duties, Dr. Karanja is widely travelled in Africa, Europe and Americas. He has attended many international meetings and conferences. Some of the countries in which Dr. Karanja has undertaken assignments include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Ghana
