Professor Adipala Ekwamu is a distinguished scientist with a passion for agriculture, the discipline and training to excel as a researcher, the compassion and interest to channel his energy into training young African scientists and the management and leadership skills to project these efforts across Africa, As a young researcher, he and his team developed three new cowpea and two soybean varieties. Exhibiting uncommon vision and energy, he founded the African Crop Science Journal and African Crop Science Society in 1993. He also founded the African Journal of Rural Development in 2015. As the then Executive Secretary of RUFORUM (see www.ruforum.org ), he has proven to be a highly effective advocate for basic and higher education in Africa and a tireless promoter of scientific dissemination and networking among African scholars across the continent.  He serves as a leader and a role model for a generation of students and colleagues alike.
Professor Adipala Ekwamu is a strong advocate for inclusive development, especially in terms of increasing access to basic education and other livelihood opportunities for disadvantaged and marginalized rural communities. He and his family has constructed a Primary and Secondary school in Eastern Uganda and also constructed a four classroom foundation block for one boys’ Secondary School (Kalaki Secondary) and another for a girls’ secondary school (Lwala Girls) in Eastern Uganda. Through his support and partnership with other agencies he has enabled over 200 boys and girls to access University education and he is currently engaged in helping Primary Teachers attain University education as part of their upgrading.   His ambition is to scale out activities of RAE beyond Uganda to other countries such as Malawi, South Sudan, Sudan and Zimbabwe