Dr Qu Dongyu

Dr Qu Dongyu took office on 1 August 2019 as the ninth Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and was re-elected for a second four-year term on 2 July 2023. During his first term, Dr Qu championed a wide range of reforms and initiatives to overhaul the Organization’s business model, improving efficiency and implementing best practices that support programs and administrative effectiveness. Dr Qu launched six core initiatives, which have generated significant achievements on the ground: The flagship Hand-in-Hand Initiative, The 1000-Digital Villages Initiative, The One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) Initiative, The Green Cities Initiative, The One Health approach, The Blue Transformation Initiative.

Before first being elected as FAO Director-General, Dr. Qu served as China’s Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) and as Vice Governor of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Before serving the senior leadership roles in government at central and local level, Dr. Qu was the Vice President of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and the Human Resources Director at the China Three Gorges Project Development Corporation. Born in 1963 to a rice-growing family in China’s Hunan Province, Dr. Qu studied horticultural science at Hunan Agricultural University and then plant breeding and genetics at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He later added environmental science to his knowledge portfolio while earning a PhD at Wageningen University.