Professor Saa Dittoh is an Agricultural Development and Food Systems Economist in the Department of Food Security and Climate Change of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale, Ghana. He is also the Grants Coordinator of the West African Centre for Water, Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture (WACWISA), one of the World Bank-assisted African Centers of Excellence (ACE) for Development Impact, located at the Nyankpala Campus of UDS. He has been lecturing and undertaking research and consultancy services mainly in the West African sub-region for over 40 years. He has special interest in the promotion of smallholder agriculture for food and nutrition security, sustainable agricultural and food systems, and sustainable natural resources management. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE) and the Editor-in-Chief of the Ghana Journal of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness (GJAEAB). He has published extensively in several reputable refereed journals and is the co-author of the famous agricultural economics textbook, Essentials of Agricultural Economics.
Professor Dittoh has collaborated with several institutions in research for many years. They include various national research institutes in Nigeria and Ghana, as well as international institutions and organizations such as IITA, IFPRI, IWMI, CIAT, DFID, IIED, CIRAD, UNU, UNEP, World Vegetable Centre (Taiwan), Global Development Network (GDN), IUCN, IFDC, Wageningen University and Research, Vrije University in Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, University of Maastricht, University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa and several Ghanaian and Nigerian Universities. He has also been a consultant to several national and international organizations such as the Federal Departments of Agriculture and Planning (Nigeria), MoFA (Ghana), FAO, IFAD, WFP, UNICEF, EU, CAADP, USAID, GIZ, Global Affairs Canada, AFD, World Vision, AfDB, the World Bank and others mainly in the areas of food and nutrition security, irrigation, natural resources management and climate change.
Professor Saa Dittoh obtained his PhD and MPhil degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and his BSc (Agriculture) degree from the University of Ghana, Legon. While lecturing at the University of Ibadan, he got involved in food and nutrition security training and research at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria and was a Food Security and Nutrition Consultant to UNICEF (Nigeria) for several years.
In Ghana, Professor Dittoh was the Head of the Food and Nutrition Security Unit (FNSU) of UDS from 1995 to 2012. That Unit collaborated with IFPRI, the Wageningen University and Research, DANIDA and UNICEF (Ghana) to undertake several one-month trainings in Food and Nutrition Security for cross-sections of Ghanaian professionals for several years. He was also Patron of the Food and Nutrition Security Network (Ghana) for over 10 years.
Professor Dittoh has been keen in activities of youth in agriculture and agribusiness. He was the University of Ibadan and National (Nigeria) Staff Adviser to the Nigerian Association of Agriculture Students (NAAS) from 1985 to 1991 and has been Patron of the Agribusiness Students’ Association of Ghana (ABSAG) since its establishment in 2010.
Professor Dittoh has also been a Head of Department, Dean of Faculty, Dean of Students and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University for Development Studies, Tamale, at various times.
.