Current President

Esendugue Greg is a Professor and a Research, Extension, and Instruction (REI) Coordinator at the Department of Agriculture & Applied Economics, University of Georgia (UGA).  He is an Affiliate Professor at the African Studies Institute (ASI), University of Georgia, USA.  He is also the Extra-Ordinary Professor at North-West University School of Business, Republic of South Africa.  An External Examiner for Masters and PhDs, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, West Africa, the Past-Chair of USDA S-1088 Multistate Research Project entitled, “Specialty Crops and Food Systems: Exploring Markets, Supply Chains and Policy Dimensions,” and now the President of the Food Distribution Research Society (FDRS), USA.  In addition, he served as Director and Deputy Director of a Multi-State Regional Land Grant Universities Extension Program known as “MALTAG,” which included the following states: Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Georgia from 2007-2010. He has participated as a PI or Co-PI in various competitive grants worth over $14 Million, and his share of the grants was used to sponsor over a dozen graduate students and support his department’s graduate program. Besides his extensive teaching, consulting and serving as invited keynote speaker experience in the USA, Europe, Asia and Africa, he has examined, supervised and mentored 38 PhD dissertations, 65 master’s and 05 Bachelor theses respectively.

Professor Fonsah is also a veteran professional farmer with over three decades of experience in all aspects of agricultural production, farm management, agribusiness, agricultural marketing, trade and policy of the fresh food industry (Specialty Crops) and aquaculture and fisheries management respectively.  He also earned the nickname, “The Banana-Man”, due to his almost four decades of experience serving in various Corporate Executive Managerial positions around the world with Multinational Banana Companies such as Del Monte Fresh Produce, Cameroon, Lapanday Food Co., Philippines and Aloha Farm Inc., Hawaii, USA respectively.

Professor Fonsah is not only an award-winning agricultural economist but also a historian, a lexicographer, a poet, a humanist, a protagonist, a philanthropist, a corporate executive, a scholar, and above all, a Traditional Ruler, The Chief of Nshimbeng-Lebock, Cameroon, Central Africa.  In the earlier stages of his life (middle school), Greg was heavily influenced and drew his inspiration from the economist and philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806–73), who developed the utilitarianism moral theory in economics and the French philosopher and mathematician, Rene Descartes who coined the Latin phrase “cogito ergo sum”, “je pense donc je suis” (French) or “I think therefore I am or I exist” (English), in his 1637 work Discourse on Methods.

As a Professor of Agriculture and Applied Economics, he has written extensively, with over 750 publications (scientific journals, books, book chapters, etc.), and given over 335 international and national presentations the world over.  His other co-authored works include the most recent, Fundamentals of Lekongho Language (2024), the English-Lekongho Dictionary (2019), the English Speaking Mbos of Cameroon (2016) and the Economics of Banana Production and Marketing in the Tropics (1995; republished 2012).  As a poet, he co-authored the Encounter (2003), The First Harvest (2012).  His poetry works are also featured in the Space Between and the Best Poems of the 90s Anthologies of the National Library of Poetry respectively.  

He earned BSc. and MBA in Business Administration from Berea College, Berea, Kentucky and Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky, USA.  He also has a Master of Science (MSc.) and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA and the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Nigeria, West Africa in 1987 and 1993 respectively.

Prof. Fonsah has won over six dozen awards, recognitions, and achievements in the past 23 years at the University of Georgia, Tifton, USA, amongst them are: the 2023 Frank Panyko Distinguished Service Award from the Food Distribution Research Society (FDRS), the 2022 Southern Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA) Highest Distinguished Extension Program Award, the 2020 and 2014 Senior Scientist Award of Excellence in Extension Economics; the 2009 Sigma Xi Award for Creative Research, and the 2006 United States President’s Volunteer Service Award for dedicating his life to serve others at home and abroad, from President George W. Bush.

His goals at the helm of FDRS are to increase national and international membership of the organization, improve the financial viability, increase and promote high quality scientific and applied journal article publications with industry relevance, to meet the needs of our industry stakeholders in order to increase their participation in our conferences.  His dreams are to share his experiences by empowering the future generation of youths, women, farmers and mankind in general in the USA, Africa, Asia and around the world, to become better leaders, better scientists, better farmers, better entrepreneurs, better citizens, and finally, to help alleviate hunger, malnutrition and poverty all over the world.