Timothy is a North American specialist with a PhD in Agricultural education from the Oklahoma State University in United States of America. He has more than 25 years of experience in agricultural development, mainly in African countries. During his life he has got considerable experience in extension training and handling market systems and value chains. He has a huge knowledge and experience in the area of business development services (BDS) and market development approach, including value chain development (VCD). He works as an extension specialist in Kenya and Afghanistan for the ACDI/VOCA; created the fiscal programmatic budget for the project and managed 27 national and five expat staff; facilitated program monitoring and evaluation and managed a USAID-funded approximately $15 million budget; provided reports to the funding agency and corporate offices in Washington, DC. Additionally, he developed farm stores and veterinarian field units for business sector development and
designed and implemented forage seed and livestock production programs; and strengthened farmer cooperatives in the P2K program area. In 2006 he managed the USAID-funded agriculture voucher input program in Northern Afghanistan. He developed market chain for vegetable and wheat production as an alternative to illicit poppy cultivation in collaboration with national government officials that reached over 25,000 Afghan farmers. He also developed government approved farmer cooperatives as vehicle for
voucher program, provided project fiscal management and developed strategies (cold storage, alternatives planting dates, etc.) to increase production without decreasing crop value. Finally, he provided leadership for 11 national staff in the Takhar AMPS project. Between 2003 and 2004 he works for USDA in a project in Georgia and Armenia to establish an international 4-H and FFG school-based agricultural program in Georgia centered on greenhouse vegetable production. This school-based program became a national educational program for rural schools throughout Georgia. His main activities were to build capacity of farmers to produce market-driven commodities in Eastern Georgia and to teach alternative farm production skills to local farmers as a means to increase production and profitability.