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Prof R.C. Abaidoo

Prof Abaidoo
Prof. R. C. Abaidoo

Prof. Robert Clement Abaidoo is a Professor of Soil/Plant Microbiology. He is currently the Provost of College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST.

Academic Background

Born on March 22, 1956 at Saltpond, Ghana, Prof. Robert Clement Abaidoo had his secondary education at the St. Augustine's College in Cape Coast and completed in 1974. He was then admitted into the Kwame Nkrumah University of science and Technology in 1976 and completed in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences. He obtained his Master of Science in Biological Sciences in 1984 at KNUST in Kumasi, Ghana and successfully completed his Doctor of Philosophy in Agronomy and Soil Science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu in 1997.

Professional Experience and Employment History

Prof. Abaidoo worked as a Laboratory Assistant at Guinness Ghana Limited, Kumasi from 1980 to 1981. He was appointed lecturer at the KNUST in 1984 in the Department of Biological Sciences. By virtue of hard work and dedication, he was promoted to the position of Senior lecturer in 1991, and to the rank of Associate Professor in 2001. He has served on important boards and committees of the University either as Chairman and/or member including Academic Board; Disciplinary committees on students; College Appointment and Promotions Committee and the University Council.  He was a Senior Tutor and Hall Master of Unity Hall and currently Council member of the Hall. He has on several occasions represented the Vice-Chancellor and KNUST at meetings on the National Science and Policy. As Lecturer, he taught undergraduate and graduate students in Microbiology and Project Cycle and has also conducted research in biological nitrogen, P use efficiency, wastewater use in urban and peri-urban Agriculture and integrated soil fertility management at KNUST, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), University of Hawaii NifTAL Project, and other institutes in Hawaii, Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, Mozambique and Ghana. He has supervised more than 35 undergraduate students' thesis as well as more than 30 students at the masters and PhD levels since 1984.

Prof. Abaidoo also worked as an Associate Expert with the Grain Legume Improvement Program (GLIP), IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria from September 1991 to December 1993; as a Research Assistant at NifTAL Project, Department of Agronomy and Soil Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu from January 1994 to June 1997 and as a Visiting Collaborative Scientist and Soil Microbiologist at IITA from February 2003 to August 2008.  He has earlier worked for These thirteen months as an International Atomic Energy Agency Fellow at the University of Hawaii NifTAL (Nitrogen Fixation in Tropical Agricultural Legumes); participated in many training workshops on Leading Excellent Research teams, Proposal Writing, Project Management, and   Higher Education Management.

He is an esteemed Academic and International Scholar. He has been involved in and also coordinated several international research projects funded by international organizations including EU, Challenge Program for Water and Food (CPWF), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), FAO/WHO/IDRC, AGRA, BMGF. He has worked together with other researchers and won Training Grants for international research programs in Ghana in the field of Soil fertility conservation and management, and safety concerns of wastewater use in Agriculture. He has also contributed to the successful management of several projects in Ghana and other African countries. These include:

  1. AGRA-KNUST Soil Science PhD study programme for West Africa,
  2. IITA component of N2Africa Project implementation in 8 African countries,
  3. CORAF/WECARD - SCARDA MSc study programme at KNUST for Gambian and Ghanaian students.
  4. On-farm evaluation of soil fertility improvement in cereal-legume crop rotations with in-situ produced organic matter amendments.
  5. Evaluation of non-treatment options for maximizing public health benefits of WHO guidelines governing the use of wastewater in urban vegetable production in Ghana.
  6. Balancing livestock needs and soil conservation: Assessment of Opportunities in Intensifying Cereal-Legume-Livestock Systems in West Africa
  7. Balanced nutrient management systems II" project; supported by the Belgian government
  8. Safeguarding Public Health Concerns, Livelihoods and Productivity in Wastewater Irrigated urban and Peri-urban Vegetable Farming in Ghana and Burkina Faso", supported by Challenge Program for Water and Food (CPWF), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Sri Lanka.
  9. Improving phosphorus availability in cropping systems of sub-Saharan Africa, supported in part by Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Australia through IITA.
  10. Nitrogen fixation, N utilization, and Bradyrhizobium Inter-strain Competition in Legume-Cereal Intercropping Systems" at the Department of Biological Sciences, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana, supported by the International Foundation of Science  (Sweden).
  11. Collaborator of the Ghana Chapter of the World Rhizobium Ecology Network activities at the Department of Biological Sciences, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana, supported by NifTAL Project with funds from National Science Foundation, USA.

He is also a member of about 10 Scientific Bodies.

Publications arising out of the Research Activities

Prof. Abaidoo has published extensively in biological nitrogen fixation, soil microbiology, integrated soil fertility management, wastewater microbiology. He is a distinguished Researcher who has contributed to 55 papers in refereed journals; 13 Book Chapters, and 43 edited conference papers/proceedings, abstracts, and posters. Selected recent publications are as follows:

  1. Junge, B., Mabit, L., Dercon, G., Walling, D.E., Abaidoo, R., Chikoye, D., and Stahr, K. (2010). First use of the 137Cs technique in Nigeria for estimating medium-term soil redistribution rates on cultivated farmland  Soil and Tillage Research Available online 15 September 2010
  2. Bationo, A. , Waswa, B. S.,  Okeyo, J., Maina, F. and Kihara, J. (Eds.) SI: Innovations as Key to the Green Revolution in Africa: Exploring the Scientific Facts. Nutr Cycl  Agroecosyst 81 (1)
  3. Fialor, S.C., Abdulai, A., Bakang, J.A., Nimoh, F., and Abaidoo, R.C. (201x). Analysis of the efficiency of vegetable production in the Kumasi metropolis (submitted to Agricultural and Food Science journal of Ghana)
  4. Dare, M.O., Abaidoo, R.C., Fagbola, O., Asiedu, R. (20xx). Effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculation and phosphorus application on yield and nutrient uptake of yam Comm. Soil Sci. &Plt Analysis xxx:
  5. Emmanuel, B., Oyetunji, O. Osonubi. O., Abaidoo, R. Fagbola, O. (2010). Abundance and distribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) species in long-term soil fertility management systems in Northern Nigeria. Journal of Plant Nutrition 33 (9): June 2010.(http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2010.484088)
  6. Yusuf, A. A, Iwuafor, E.N.O., Abaidoo, R.C., Olufajo, O.O., and Sanginga, N. 2009 Effect of crop rotation and nitrogen fertilization on yield and nitrogen efficiency in maize in the northern Guinea savanna of Nigeria. African Journal of Agricultural Research 4 (10): pp. 913-921
  7. Yusuf, A.A., Iwuafor, E.N.O., Abaidoo, R.C., Olufajo, O.O., and N. Sanginga, N. (2009). Grain legume rotation benefits to maize in the Northern Guinea savanna of Nigeria: Fixed-nitrogen vs. other rotation effects. Nutr. Cycl Agroecosyst 84: 129-139.
  8. Nwoke, O.C., Okogun, J.A., Sanginga, N., Diels, J., Abaidoo, R.C., and Osonubi, O. (2009).  Phosphate rock utilization by soybean genotypes on a low-P savanna soil and the status of soil P fractions after a subsequent maize crop. African J. of Biotechnology 8(15):3477-3488.
  9. Junge, B. Deji, O. Abaidoo, R., Chikoye, D., and Stahr, K. 2009. Farmers' adoption of soil conservation technologies: A case study from Osun State, Nigeria. Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 153(3): 287-304.
  10. Andoh, LA., Abaidoo, R.C., Obiri-Danso, K., Drechsel, P., Kondrasen, F., and Klank, L.T. (2009). Helminth contamination of lettuce and associated risk factors at production sites, markets and street food vendor points in urban and peri-urban Kumasi, Ghana. Research Journal of Microbiology 4(1): 13-22.