Dr Mary Shetto is an Agriculture and Rural Development practitioner with over 30 years of experience in the management of agricultural development programmes and provision of agricultural extension and advisory services in Tanzania and East Africa region. She is currently working as an independent consultant in various assignments, the last being the World Bank Team implementing the Food System Resilient project in Tanzania.

Dr Shetto worked as a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Kilimo Trust (KT), a regional NGO in East Africa
(2017-2020) and a Country Director for KT Tanzania (2014 – 2017). She was responsible for project management and implementation including financial management, monitoring, evaluation, and documentation of lessons for scaling-up. She supported and mentored SMEs to ensure their growth in agribusiness including practicing good governance, financial and risk management, compliance with tax and statutory requirements, build capacity to develop strategic business plan and marketing strategy. She engaged in building capacity of the private sector partners to develop bankable business proposal to enabled them to meet minimum matching grants requirement to access finance and ensure accountability. Dr Shetto worked with private sector to support partnerships between smallholder farmers and investors in small, medium and large-scale agriculture enterprises, to strengthen agribusinesses and promote regional trade and thus develop sustainable food systems in the region to attain food and nutrition security and for wealth creation. Before joining KT she worked with the Ministry of Agriculture in Tanzania from 1981 to 2014 and implemented several agriculture development projects, holding different management positions.

She is a member and the president of International Board of Rikolto, with its headquarters in Belgium;
a Trustee of Agricultural Marketing Development Trust and a member of board of African Initiative for
Relief and Development in Tanzania.

She holds the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Agricultural Education and Extension at Sokoine
University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania (2008); the Master of Science (with Distinction) degree
in Management of Agricultural Knowledge Systems at Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands (1992); a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree with Honours (Animal Science and Production) at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania (1987); and a Diploma in Agricultural Home Economics and Nutrition at Uyole Agricultural Training Institute, Mbeya, Tanzania (1981).