A tribute to Jean Ndikumana, a ‘gentle giant’ in African livestock research for development

Jean Ndikumana at a 2010 stakeholders meeting of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Zerihun Sewunet).

The board, directors and staff of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) mourn the passing of a former colleague and lifelong friend—Jean Ndikumana, a plant and forage breeder by discipline from the Republic of Burundi who became an exceptional leader in pan-African agricultural research for development. Dr Ndikumana died on 5 December 2019, in Nairobi, Kenya.

Colleagues and friends of Jean from ILRI and well beyond have been deeply touched by this untimely loss, including Jean’s friend and colleague Ed Rege, who contributed much of the bibliographical detail here and to whom ILRI offers particular thanks. . . .