Center Directors General

Mahmoud Solh became director general of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in May 2006. He has been associated with international agricultural research and development in the dry areas since 1972 when he became a staff member of the Ford Foundation Arid Land Agricultural Development Program in the Near East, the predecessor of ICARDA.

Mahmoud Solh was director of the Plant Production and Protection Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for four years. Before that he worked at ICARDA for nearly 16 years in various capacities–as a lentil breeder, a regional food legume breeder in North Africa, regional coordinator of the Nile Valley and Red Sea Regional Program, and assistant director general for international cooperation. He was a professor of genetics and plant breeding at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon from 1980 to 1986.

Mahmoud Solh holds a PhD in genetics from the University of California, Davis, United States, and has an impressive record of scientific publications. He is experienced in donor relations and fund raising, and has an in-depth knowledge of the needs and aspirations of the national agricultural research and development systems in the Central and West Asia and North Africa region and beyond. In October 2011 the University of California, Davis, awarded him the Award of Distinction for Outstanding Alumnus.