Dr. Athur Mabiso received his PhD in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University in 2010.  His PhD dissertation was entitled, “The Economics of Petroleum Fuels, Biofuels and Food in South Africa,” and his research focused on biofuels developments and smallholder farmers in South Africa.   The research shed light on the potential effect of biofuels crop production on land displacement from food production in his home country of Zimbabwe.  Mabiso completed his Borlaug LEAP Fellowship in 2009 – 2010 and was mentored by Dr. Augustine Langyintuo, formerly with CIMMYT and now with AGRA, Dr. Siwa Msangi at IFPRI and Dr. Dave Weatherspoon.  Following graduation, Mabiso accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington DC, where he works on policy research to support the USAID's Feed the Future Initiative.

Dr. Mabiso is currently working on a research paper on long-term investment strategies to address food insecurity in the Horn of Africa and his research interests are investments in sustainable agriculture, food security and development strategy. He has worked in his native Zimbabwe as well as South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Mozambique, Kenya and Nigeria.  His long-term ambition is to start-up a green company in Zimbabwe that would integrate production systems of renewable fuels with waste management and environmental stewardship concepts.