Nigerian Professor Elected As President Of CIGR, A Global Society Of Agricultural Engineers

A Nigerian professor, Akindele Folarin Alonge, has been elected as the President of the International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (CIGR).

Established in 1930, CIGR is the world’s largest and highest international institution in the field of agricultural and biological engineering. It is also the umbrella body of the Society of Agricultural Engineers across the globe.

Mr Alonge, a professor of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Uyo, will lead the affairs of the CIGR till 2022. He succeeds another Nigerian Professor, Umezuruike Linus Opara of Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

Professor Alonge is an Agricultural Products Processing expert. He holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in Agricultural Engineering with a specialization in Crop Processing and Storage from the University of Ibadan. He is also an alumnus of the University of Ilorin, where he obtained a PhD in Agricultural Engineering with special interests in solar drying and, by extension, renewable energy.

He is a member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) and was president of the society’s African Network Group from 2014 to 2017. He is also the South-South Regional Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Agricultural Engineers (NIAE).

Prior to his election as President, Professor Alonge served on the Executive Board of the CIGR and was Secretary of the CIGR’s Technical Board Section VI.

He is a reviewer of several papers for the CIGR journal and was recently the African representative for the newly formed Global Taskforce Group, saddled with the responsibility of assembling, strategizing and mobilizing young professionals and senior students for increased participation in CIGR activities.