Wilson José Leonardo is currently IFDC Country Representative in Mozambique and IFDC Team Leader of the Swedish-funded TEAMS program.
He has over 20 years’ experience working in the field of farming systems with a focus on smallholder farmers in Mozambique. Wilson has a research interest in farming systems analysis and exploration of future scenarios of change on smallholder farming systems to improve productivities in sub-Saharan Africa, and with specific attention to soil fertility and labor availability at household level.
He worked for the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) from 2001 to 2008 as Scientific Officer. In 2014 he joined IFDC as Senior Agronomist in a joint position with IITA as N2Africa Country coordinator in Mozambique.
Wilson has a PhD degree in systems agronomy from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. His research focused on assessing the possibilities and limitations of improving productivity of smallholder farming systems in Mozambique. In 2007 he obtained his Master’s Degree in Plant Science from Wageningen University after graduating in 2001 as a Bachelor of Plant Production and Protection at the Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique.
Key publications
Wilson Leonardo, Gerrie W.J. van de Ven, Argyris Kanellopoulos., Ken E. Giller (2018) . Can farming provide a way out of poverty for smallholder farmers in central Mozambique? Agricultural Systems 165, 240–251.
Wilson Leonardo, Gerrie W.J. van de Ven., Henk Udo., Argyris Kanellopoulos., Almeida Sitoe., Ken E. Giller (2015). Labour not land constrains agricultural production and food self-sufficiency in maize based smallholder farming systems in Mozambique. Food Sec. 7, 857–874.
Wilson Leonardo, Madeleine Florin, Gerrie W.J. van de Ven., Henk Udo., Ken E. Giller (2015). Which smallholder farmers benefit most from biomass production for food and biofuel? The case of gondola district, Central Mozambique. Biomass Bioenergy 83, 257–268.
Wilson José Leonardo, Jos Bijman, M.A. Slingerland (2015). The Windmill Approach: Combining transaction cost economics and farming systems theory to analyse farmer participation in value chains . Outlook on Agriculture 44, 207-2014.
Schut, M., van Paassen, A., Leeuwis, C., Bos, S., Leonardo, W., Lerner, A. (2011). Space for innovation for sustainable community-based biofuel production and use: Lessons learned for policy from Nhambita community, Mozambique. Energy Policy 39, 5116-5128.