Tahirou Abdoulaye is an agricultural Economist and Principal scientist based in Bamako, Mali. He is also the manager of the CSAT (Climate Smart Agricultural Technologies) Mali and Niger projects. His academic qualifications include a B.Sc. in economics (University of Niamey, Niger); and M.Sc. and Ph.D. in agricultural economics (Purdue University, USA). He has been involved in evaluation and impact assessment of several projects mainly in West Africa.

He has produced papers on impact assessment of research activities in several African countries including Niger, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, and Benin. His research work covers a wide range of rural economic issues including seed systems, farm-level efficiency and also technology evaluation and transfer. His more recent research interest focuses on innovation systems and technology uptake by smallholder farmers in Africa.

Prior to joining IITA in 2007, he was a research fellow with JIRCAS (2005─2006), Scientist at INRAN (2004─2005), graduate research assistant and postdoctoral research associate at Purdue University (1997─2003) and Economist at INRAN (1989─1993, 1994─1996).