Speakers
Keynote speakers
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Theme 1: Germplasm, Botany and Production Technology: Prof Theodore Radovich |
Dr Radovick holds a PhD in Horticulture and Crop Science form the Ohio State University and is currently working as Extension specialist in sustainable and organic farming systems at the University of Hawaii. He has published widely in the field of organic farming and has been involved in Moringa related activities since 2008. These activities include amongst other the soilless production of moringa, germplasm evaluation of moringa in Hawaii, the application of vermicompost in moringa and many more. |
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Theme 2: Climate change, environment and agro-ecosystems: Prof Manuel C. Palada |
Prof Palada is the chair of the ISHS Moringa working group and acted as the convenor of the 1st International Moringa conference held in the Philippines in 2015. He serves as technical consultant in agricultural research and development projects which contributes significantly to improving the livelihood and welfare of resource-poor farmers in the developing world. Prof Palada has written more than 40 journal articles and numerous training manuals and farmers’ production guides and brochures. He is a member of a number of societies and associations in the field of agronomy, horticulture and crop science. |
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Theme 3: Food security, nutrition and Health: Prof Chishimba Nathan Mowa |
Prof Mowa has a PhD from the Hokkaido University, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine in Japan and has worked in the veterinary field in Zambia for several years before moving to the US to focus more on human health. His involvement in moringa includes the initiation of an African moringa think tank to promote the development of moringa related research and industry and the initiation of the North Carolina Moringa Research Consortium. |
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Theme 4: Agro-processing, industrial use and commercialisation: Dr Newton Amaglo |
Dr Amaglo completed both his MSc and PhD on moringa and has more than 20 year's of experience in the commercial cultivation and processing of moringa leaves as well as seed oil processing from Moringa. He has been involved in international projects related to moringa production in Africa and played an important role in the drafting and establishing of a code of good practices for Ghanaian moringa industry. |
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Invited speakers
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Prof Habauka Majority Kwaambwa |
Prof Kwaambwa’s obtained his PhD from the University of Bristol in 1995 and is currently an associate professor and head of the Department of Natural and Applied sciences at the Namibia University of Science and Technology. He has conducted research on various aspects Moringa growing and utilization. His research included: the use of Moringa for water treatment; the effect of Moringa supplemented diet on growth rates of goat kids; comparative studies between M. oleifera and M. ovalifolia in terms of mineral content, seed performance and seedling establishment; role of Moringa in mitigating climate change, improving community health and creating jobs; and situational analysis of cultivation and utilisation in sub-Saharan Africa. |
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Prof Mark Earl Olson |
Prof Olson has published widely on various aspects of the genus Moringa with a specific focus on moringa germplasm and the differences between wild and domesticated Moringa types. During the first moringa symposium Prof Olson received an award for his contribution with regards to research and development in this field. He has published 25 papers specifically related to moringa. |
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Prof Elsa Du Toit
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Prof. Elsa S. du Toit is an accomplished Horticulturist and an academic from the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences of the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Prof du Toit has published 66 peer-reviewed scientific articles and has contributed to 9 published chapters in books, as well as 15 comprehensive technical reports for governments, including the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Water Research Commission (WRC), as well for grower associations and the private industry. In the past, she has steered community projects, where she executed and compiled a business plan model entitled Commercialization of Moringa oleifera for poverty alleviation, job creation, food security and biofuel production for proposed sites in Gauteng Province. In the past 12 years her research group developed best horticultural practices for undomesticated crops such as Moringa. Propagation, including in vitro culture, cultivation, seed longevity, reproductive biology, and sustainable production of bio-activity in leaves form the present focus for her Moringa tree crop improvement research. |
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Dr Ashwell Ndhlala |
| Dr Ashwell R. Ndhlala received his BSc Honours degree in Biochemistry from the University of Zimbabwe, Harare in Zimbabwe, first doctorate (DPhil in Biochemistry) from the same institute and second doctorate (PhD in Ethnopharmacology) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. He currently serves as a Senior Researcher at The Agricultural Research Council, Roodeplaat, South Africa where he is leading projects in agro-processing of herbal and food/feed crops as well as functional foods such as Moringa (whole value chain). His research interests are mainly focused on the medico-nutritional and antnutritional properties of medicinal, food and feed crops. Ashwell is currently involved in a number of research projects aimed at improving food security, particularly interventions in the areas of agricultural production of Moringa in South Africa involving several communities in rural, peri-urban and urban set-ups. He is the Managing editor for the upcoming Special Issue on Moringa Research in the South African Journal of Botany as well as a Guest Co-Editor for the upcoming Special Issue on Plant-Based Food and Associated Natural Products of Therapeutic Value in Autoimmune Diseases: Update 2019 for the Frontiers in Pharmacology. Ashwell is also a Research Fellow of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa. | |
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Prof Luke Chimuka |
Professor Luke Chimuka is a research group leader of Environmental Analytical Chemistry in the School of Chemistry at the University of the Witwatersrand. He has a PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Lund University, Sweden (2001). He has supervised more than 50 MSc and 12 PhD students and published over 140 scientific papers. Has won a number of awards such as South African Chromatographer of the year in 2011, 2015 winner of the Gauteng Innovation competition award in the biosciences category given by The Innovation Hub and 2018 winner of Wits University research innovation award. He is a founder member and national treasurer of Moringa development of South Africa (www.mdasa.org) and in the organising committee for 2nd International symposium on Moringa (www.ism2019.co.za). He is also the past Chief Editor of the South African Journal of Chemistry. His current interest is in the commercialisation of indigenous plants especially for use in the cosmetic, dairy and beverage industries. Prof Chimuka is currently involved in organic certification of some Moringa farms funded by the Department of Science of Innovation, South Africa. |
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Dr Ravindra C. Joshi |
Dr. Ravindra C. Joshi is currently the SAFE-Network Pacific Islands coordinator; CABI-SEA Associate; Tropical Agriculture Association (UK) coordinator for the Pacific region; and technical adviser to Deltamed, Spain on invasive apple snail. His central research over twenty-five years is on invasive alien species (IAS), important to agriculture sector, at the international, regional and national organizations, including the private and academic institutions, in Africa, Asia,Caribbean, and Pacific Island countries. He published four manuals on IAS and over 150 research articles on IAS and their management. Dr. Joshi also served as member of the Scientific Committee of the First International Symposium on Moringa held in Manila, Philippines on November 15-18, 2015. He is the co-editor of the book: The Miracle Tree Moringa oleifera, Second Edition, 2019 that will be launched at ISM2019. |
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Invited speakers for Workshop: Unlocking moringa market access
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Mr Cyril Lombard |
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Mr. Lombard is currently and independent consultant focussing on the biotrade concept and proposal development. He has more than 30 years of experience in the natural products industry with successful global market launches. He was previously involved at Phyto Trade Africa, where he acted as head of market development and head of R&D, assisting members of the Southern African natural Products Trade Association to develop multiple industry partnerships as well as supporting members and collaborators on navigating and addressing intellectual property issues and global regulatory barriers. He later acted as the CEO of Phyto Trade Africa with participation in multiple task teams and advisory groups as well as serving on the board of directors of the Union for Ethical Biotrade. |
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Dr Chamunorwa Togo |
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Chamunorwa Togo, is a General Manager for Innovation and Industry Development at The Innovation Hub Management Company (TIHMC) overseeing the Bio-economy and smart industry sectors. He has extensive research experience and background in Biotechnology and general life sciences. Amongst some of his areas of interest are bridging the gap between the laboratory and market and commercialisation of indigenous knowledge- based products. |
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Dr Irene M Chimoga |
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Dr Irene M Chimoga is currently the Moringa project manager at Rusangu University, Zambia. She is ranked as lecturer 1 in the Rusangu University School of Business. Chimoga is a registered member of the International Management Association in UK, an associate member of the Zambia Institute of Human Resource (ZIHRM) and a member of the Environmental Association of Zambia. She has more than 34 years of work experience in various corporate and educational organizations. She was a Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) committee member that compiled the current Moringa standards in Zambia. She has authored technical journal articles that include: The Effect of Performance Management Systems on Employee turnover in Organizations (2018): Sustainable Innovative Food Preservation for Economic Growth in Monze District, Zambia (2019); the Effect of Mind-set, Information Technology and Course Load Towards E-learning in Higher Education in Zambia, (2019). She has attended various academic conferences that include: Strategies for Commercialization of Moringa in the SADC Region, Lusaka, Zambia; Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA) 2017, Maun, Botswana; 4th Annual Research Conference on Rethinking Sustainable Development Goals in Africa: Emerging Trends and Issues atAdventist University of Africa (AUA), 2018. Her position as manager of the Moring project came as a result of Rusangu University realising that the institution had the potential to integrate into sustainable development economy through commercialisation and academic research of Moringa, both locally and internationally. |
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Dr Newton Amaglo |
See detail on keynote speakers |
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Dr Hlupehka Chabalala |
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Dr Chabalala is the current National Director of the Indigenous Knowledge-Based Technology Innovation Unit of the South African Department of Science and Innovation. He is a Medical Natural Scientist with special interest in research, development and innovation of African Natural Medicines, Cosmeceuticals, Nutraceuticals, Health Infusions and Technology Transfer, for socio-economic development. He is an Applied Epidemiologist and African Medicine Practitioner with passion in ancient but scientific Afrikan and Afro-Asian Healing Arts. He is dedicated to sharing fruits of his craft with change ambassadors in the Afrikan region, Oriental worlds, the Americas, Caribbean and Eurasia. He holds B.Sc. (Hons) Microbiology (University of Limpopo), Master of Science (University of Pretoria), Master of Public Health (Tsinghua University) and PhD in Technology Innovation (Da Vinci Institute of Technology). His special craft is in systematisation and interfacing ancient, yet global knowledge systems with emerging sciences, e.g. quantum mechanics, pharmacology, epigenetics, biotechnology, astrophysics etc. He is the Executive Director of the Amen-Ra Institute, whose core function is mainly research and dissemination of ancient Kemetic science consciousness. |
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