Ben Kwaku Branoh Banful

Ben Kwaku Branoh Banful is an Associate Professor at the Department of Horticulture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. He holds a PhD in Agronomy from the University of Ghana, Legon (2006), M.Phil in Agronomy also from the University of Ghana, Legon (1994) and BSc. Agriculture, from the University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast (1988). He has 11 years of university teaching, research and administrative experience. Prior to this, he had 19 years of research and development experience from the CSIR-Crops Research Institute, Kumasi. Of the 10 years in the University, he has served in examination and administrative positions as a Departmental Examinations Officer (temporarily for three months), Head of Department, Hall Master of Queen Elizabeth II Hall and presently as the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture. As Head of Department of Horticulture, he provided academic and administrative direction and supervision to the Department. He introduced the greenhouse technology for crop production for the first time in the history of the Department and Faculty of Agriculture for students training as well as for commercial benefit to improve on the internally generated fund aspect of the Department. As Hall Master of Queen Elizabeth II Hall, he engaged in several projects which culminated in a significant transformation of the Hall to the benefit of Students and Fellows. As Dean of Faculty of Agriculture he has shown proactive leadership and enhanced the teaching and learning facilities at the Faculty thereby improving the general academic environment of the Faculty. He has also improved on the visibility of the Faculty through his consistent engagement with external stakeholders which has culminated in a Youth Training Service and Campus Management contract with funding from Eni Exploration and Production Ghana Ltd. Further as Dean, he has continued to collaborate with the Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to provide both academic leadership and direction to the Faculty and the strategic growth and development of the College. He has excellent inter-personal skills that make him get things done through teamwork. He has the ability to collaborate, lead, engage and inspire both teaching and non-teaching staff to give off their best in the service of the University. He has a lot of experience in Projects management and presently serves as a Team Leader for some University-wide Projects which are both multidisciplinary and multi-Faculty. These include KNUST-Eni Ghana OKUAFO PA Agribusiness Training Project; KNUST-KMA Kumasi Beautification Project; KNUST Environmental Beautification and Re-afforestation Project; KNUST - Local Government Service (LGS) Project on District Assemblies Enabled Programme for Accelerated Economic and Social Development at the District level; KNUST-REP Technology Promotion and Dissemination Project. As an agronomist, his considerable research experience facilitates his mentoring of the young Faculty in their research endeavours. He is also a key player in the national agricultural sector through his membership of a number of committees which include; Committee for the Development of Fertilizer Field Testing Protocols for Ghana, Pool of experts for field testing of fertilizers and Bio-stimulants for industry clients of the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate of MOFA, Pool of experts for field testing of Plant Growth Regulators and Pesticides for industry clients Environmental Protection Authority,  Consortium of experts on entrepreneurship for commercial seed incubation business, Committee to Review Ghana Seed Regulatory Framework in line with ECOWAS Seed Regulation. He has over seventy (70) scientific publications comprising high quality journal articles, edited conference papers and production handbooks/manuals to his credit. He is also a scientific reviewer for a number of reputable international and local journals and also serves on the Editorial Board of several reputable journals. Additionally, he has a strong background in business plan development which enables him to source for funding for the University.  RESEARCH INTERESTSProduction Systems of Crops ; Postharvest Systems of Crops ; Soil fertility management