Team Leader - Kenya
Steering Committee
Module development: Sustainable and quality oriented dairy production
Department of Animal Sciences,
Egerton University,
P.O. Box 536,
20115 Egerton, Kenya.

Tel: +254 51 221 7685/6
Fax: + 254 51 221 7682/7
Mobile: +254 72 785 0007
a.kahi@incip.org or
alexanderkahi@yahoo.com
a.kahi@valuelead.org
a.kahi@egerton.ac.ke

Prof. Dr. sc. agr. A. K. Kahi is an Associate Professor of Animal Breeding and Genetics at Egerton University's Department of Animal Sciences. He is the Chair of Animal Sciences and the principal investigator of several research projects and supervises several postgraduate students. He joined the Department as a Teaching Assistant in 1991. He is a consulting scientist, Livestock Recording Centre, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development, Kenya and involved in animal genetic resources management initiatives in Kenya. He is involved in research projects in various livestock species in Kenya, Benin, Ethiopia and The Gambia, including supervision of several MSc students. He is also involved in the supervision of PhD students registered in Universities in Germany (University of Hohenheim and Humboldt University in Berlin). He is a recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship to collaborate in research with universities in Germany and other countries in Europe; past recipients include 35 Nobel Prize Laureates.

Prof. Dr. A. K. Kahi has wide experience of livestock production systems and their economics and a special interest in the definition of breeding objectives for different production systems, genetic improvement, computer simulations, genetic evaluation, experimental and observational quantitative genetics and the genetics of indigenous animal resources.

Prof. Dr. Kahi has served as a consultant on animal genetic resources both in Africa (Ethiopia and Kenya) and in Europe (Germany). He has worked at the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit (AGBU), University of New England where he evaluated the efficiency of beef cattle breeding programme for the Australian and Thailand (South East Asia) beef industries. Recently, he was a visiting Professor under Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) funding at the Laboratory of Animal Husbandry Resources, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Japan. He developed advanced indigenous Japanese beef cattle breeding schemes and systems to support management and genetic improvement of cattle genetic resources in developing countries. He was involved in the evaluation of the crossbreeding programme between the Kambing Katjang goat and its crosses with the German Fawn in South East Asia, Malaysia in particular.

His Masters degree (registered at Egerton University) and his PhD degree studies (registered at the University of Hohenheim) were carried out with support from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) within the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute/ILRI collaborative research programme on dairy systems in the coastal lowland tropics. His PhD research, which built on his earlier studies, evaluated crossbreeding systems for dairy production in the lowland tropics. It combined genetic and economic analyses and simulation models to test alternative strategies for their biological and economic merits. The University of Hohenheim awarded his thesis their highest grade, Magna cum Laude.

In 2001, Prof. Dr. Kahi was awarded the prestigious Peter Doherty award for being the most promising young scientist and was the winner of the 2001 Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)'s Excellence in Science Award in Promising Young Scientist award category. He continues today as an ILRI collaborator in research on animal genetic resources and sustainable livestock breeding strategies for smallholder farmers and pastoralist.

Prof. Dr. Kahi has authored or co-authored over 195 publications, including several papers in the premier internationally refereed animal science journals, three books and a book chapter. He is a recipient of research funding from various donor agencies including the International Foundation of Sciences (IFS), the World Bank, the European Union etc.