Frits van der Wal

Frits van der Wal is a highly experienced Food and Nutrition Security professional who lived and worked in Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania for 18 years before he joined the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation in 2001. Frits first got acquainted with the work of One Acre Fund in 2016 and has visited and supported thereafter many 1AF field activities in countries like Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Frits has a MSc in Agriculture with a specialisation in Soil Science and is fluent in Kiswahili, Portuguese and English. Frits is eager to share his practical experiences on how to improve the area-specific productivity and resilience of smallholder farming systems with 1AF staff and partners at all levels.

In Eastern and Southern Africa, Frits worked with various ministries, agricultural research organisations, farmers’ groups, NGOs, companies and local authorities when he worked there as soil health expert and project manager of district rural development programs. As Senior Policy Advisor at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs thereafter, Frits co-developed Dutch policies on Private Sector Development and Food & Nutrition Security and managed large development programs and partnerships. Next to that, Frits conducted numerous support missions to Dutch embassies and partners geared to strengthen inclusive private sector development, land tenure, nutrition, vocational training and smallholder farming systems in countries all over Sub-Sahara Africa.