Mr Bukar Tijani was the FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, from December 2013 to October 2018. From November 2018 he assumed office as FAO Assistant Director-General of the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department. He started his professional career in 1978 as a Rural Agricultural Extension Worker. After his National Service with the Kano Agricultural and Rural Development Authority in the mid-1980s, he collaborated with IITA, Ibadan, on on-farm adaptive research for small-holder farms on rice, maize, cowpea, soybean and farming systems, which led to adoption of varieties utilized by farmers up to present day in Nigeria. He held senior positions in a number of the institutions under the State and at national levels. These included General Manager of Fertilizer Blending Company, Director in an EC-assisted Programme, North-East Arid Zone Development Programme (NEAZDP), National Programme Coordinator for IFAD-assisted Community-Based Agriculture and Rural Development Programme (IFAD-CBARDP) and National Project Coordinator for the Third Fadama Development Project assisted by the World Bank in Nigeria. He had extensive experience on participatory Community driven agriculture and rural development approaches across Nigeria. He coordinated all donor-assisted AfDB, IsDB, BADEA, IFAD and World Bank programmes and projects including the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS) and the FAO-China-Nigeria tripartite agreement on South-South Cooperation. From July 2011 to September 2013, Mr. Tijani was a Cabinet Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where he served as the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development.