Dr Olivier Lafourcade joined the World Bank in 1973 in the then recently created center of agriculture and rural development and he contributed there for more than 30 years in various important capacities worldwide. 

He had the opportunity to work very closely with the legendary Bank President, Robert McNamara. During his last years in the Bank, Lafourcade was Operational Director, responsibile for the design and implementation of Bank strategies and programs of support to the following countries: México, Colombia, Venezuela and the Africa Department (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Togo). This included lending operations, analytical work and technical assistance in all sectors where the Bank is involved, with main focus on poverty reduction. The programme in Mexico alone amounted to an average of US$1.5 billion in new commitments annually, second largest in the Bank.

Dr Lafourcade is one of the most central actors in the World Bank’s policies and operations in the last 30 years.

Lafourcade is a graduate of the Ecole National Supérieure Agronomique, Rennes (France) and holds an MSc and PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Maryland, USA. He also also a graduate of the Executive Program of Stanford University.