Jose Maria Sumpsi Vinas

Mr Sumpsi Viñas "is the Assistant Director-General of the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department at FAO. Before joining FAO in May 2007 he occupied the chair of Agrarian Policy at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Between 1990 and 1994 he managed the Agrarian Economic Department of the University. From 1983 to 1986 he was President of the Andalusian Institute of Agrarian Reform. In this position he supervised the drafting and approval of the Agrarian Reform Law, as well as its subsequent application. From 2003 to 2005 Mr Sumpsi Viñas served as an expert in rural development at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. Mr Sumpsi Viñas has authored many publications on agrarian policy and economics and development. During his career he has served on many expert committees in charge of the analysis and reform of Rural and Agricultural Policy in the European Union. In particular, from 1995 to 1997 he was part of the Integrated Rural Development Group, charged with reviewing the Common Agricultural Policy and proposing a new Common Agricultural and Rural Policy for Europe (CARPE). He has also provided advice to high level officials in charge of the formulation of agrarian policies in European and Latin American countries."


 * Director, Global Crop Diversity Trust