Paolo Sarfatti obtained the Laurea in Agricultural Sciences (equivalent to the title of MSc) from the University of Florence, Italy in 1982. He obtained the title of Dottore Agronomo (Chartered Agronomist) in 1983. In 2010, he participated in the International Programme on Development Evaluation (IPDET) in Ottawa.

Paolo was Research Fellow at the Department of Agronomy of the University of Florence, Italy, 1982-1984. He was then appointed as an Agricultural Officer at the Istituto Agronomico per l’Oltremare of Florence (IAO), Italy, 1985-2000 before becoming Technical Director (2001-2006). From 200-2008 he was Policy Officer at the DG Development of the European Commission Unit B2 ‘Policies for Sustainable Management of Natural Resources’ in Brussels before returning to IAO as Technical Director (2008-2013). He was Managing Director of Agrinatura EEIG, Paris, in 2010-2014.

At present (from 2014) Paolo is Team Leader of the EC Integrated Support Services on “Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainable Agriculture”, Landell Mills Ltd, UK. He is Project Director of the Landell Mills led Consortium for the EC Framework Contract “Sustainable management of natural resources and Resilience”.

• Sarfatti P., Ongaro L., 1986 - “The Continental Oases of southern Tunisia and the Agrometeorological Network of the Nefzaoua Project” in Proceedings of the ICRAF/WMO/UNEP Workshop on the application of Meteorology to Agroforestry Systems Planning and Management, Nairobi 9-13 February
• Di Gregorio A., Ongaro L., Sarfatti P., 1989 - “Land cover monitoring using remote sensing data (SW Bhutan 1977-1988)”. 'Global natural resources monitoring and assessments', IUFRO/FAO, 24- 30 September 1989, Venice.
• Delli G., Martucci A., Sarfatti P., 1995 - “Land suitability evaluation for winter wheat in Tiaret region (Algeria). Proceedings of the ISSS International Symposium, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 6-10 February 1995, Paris
• Calzolari C., Ongaro L., Magazzini P. - Sarfatti P., 1995 “Use of Landsat TM and DEM data in producing reconnaissance scale soil maps”. Proceedings of the ISSS International Symposium, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 6-10 February 1995, Paris, 325-340
• IAO-ITGC, 1995 “Rapport sur les ressources naturelles et evaluation des terres (volumes 1,2,3 et 4 avec cartes)”. Projet de recherche appliquee: blé dur et lentille dans la region de Tiaret (Algerie). IAO, Florence 1995.
• Colombo R., Sarfatti P., 1995 - “Remotely sensed data for hydrological analysis of two sub-catchments of the Mareb river (Eritrea)”. Workshop "Remote Sensing and Water Resources Management". Montpellier, 29 November -1 December 1995.
• Campolmi G., Nibbi P., Ongaro L., Sarfatti P., 1996 - “Land evaluation and farming systems analysis: an application in North-Western Algeria”. 14th International Symposium on Sustainable Farming Systems - Colombo 11th-16th November 1996
• Sarfatti P., Delli G., Ongaro L., Mollicone D., 1998 - Using Landsat TM data for Poplar Cultivated Areas estimation in Konia eregli Region (Anatolia-Turkey). EARSeL Symposium, Enschede (NL) 11-14 May 1998
• Chiari T., Bazzani F., Delli G., Sarfatti P., Cadi A., Bellah F., 1999 - “Statistical and GIS tools for Durum Wheat variety evaluation in Algeria". World Seed Conference, 6-8 Septembre 1999, Cambridge, UK
• Cadi A., Chiari T., Bazzani F., Delli G., Bellah F., Sarfatti P., 1999 - "Utilisation du SIG pour l’amélioration et le renforcement du système national d’adaptation variétale du blé dur en Algérie". Séminaire international sur les Systèmes d’Information Géographique et de Télédétection ‘ALSIG. 99’, 15-18 Novembre 1999, Algier.
• Sarfatti P. 2001 - Rapport sur le Plan National de Developpement Agricole (PNDA) en Algerie. IAO Report. Florence, 2001.
• Delli G., Sarfatti P., Bazzani F., Cadi A., 2002 - “Application of GIS for agro-climatological characterisation of northern Algeria to define durum wheat production areas”. Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development –Vol. 96 N° 3/4.
• Delli G., Sarfatti P., Cadi A., 2002 - Classification of historical series of NDVI: an application for northern Algeria”. Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development –Vol. 96 N° 3/4.
• Jansen L., Mahamadou H., Sarfatti P., 2003 - “Land cover change analyses using LCCS”. Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development –Vol. 97 N° 1/2.
• Gaouna B. O., Stroppiana D., Ungaro F., Sarfatti P., 2004 - “Crop yeld reduction estimation using the FAO-CROPWAT model: a case study in Southern Chad”. Journal of Agriculture and Environment for International Development - Vol. 97 N° 3/4.
• Di Gregorio A., Sarfatti P., Laurin G.V., 2005 – “The Global Land Cover Network: Innovation and Experiences in Land Cover Mapping for ARD and Land Use Planning”. International Conference on Agricultural Research for Development: European Responses to Changing Global Needs. 27-29 April 2005. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland
• Landmann T., Breda F., Di Gregorio A., Latham J., Sarfatti P., Delli G., 2005 – “Looking towards a new land cover dynamics data set: the Medium Resolution Data-base for Africa (MEDA)”. AfricaGIS conference, 31 October – 4 November 2005, Pretoria, South Africa
• Avitabile V., Drigo R., Di Gregorio A., Sarfatti P., 2005 – “Use of Land Cover data for woody biomas stock estimation in Eastern and Central Africa”. AfricaGIS conference, 31 October – 4 November 2005, Pretoria, South Africa

He has 35 years of experience on international cooperation for agricultural development, mostly in Africa. In the first period of his career his main field of research and action was Sustainable management of natural resources for agriculture and rural development in developing countries. In more recent years he has concentrated his interest on how to improve, through international cooperation, coherence and effectiveness of agricultural and rural transformation policies and programmes in developing countries. In this context, he has a long experience of working with the EU and in collaboration with specialised international organisations such as FAO and IFAD.