Qingfeng Zhang is Senior Director of the Agriculture, Food, Nature, and Rural Development (AFNR) Sector Office at the Asian Development Bank. In this role, he leads ADB’s bank-wide efforts to advance food systems transformation, strengthen food security, scale up investment in natural capital, promote integrated river basin management, and develop inclusive and green agricultural value chains. The AFNR Sector Office also pioneers innovative approaches to integrating sovereign operations with private-sector investment to accelerate sustainable rural development.
Over more than two decades at ADB, Mr. Zhang has mobilized financing and provided technical leadership across a broad range of initiatives, including green agricultural value chains, sustainable management of land, soil, and water resources, climate-resilient agriculture, rural bioenergy, healthy agro-ecosystems, food safety systems, and digital agriculture. His work has supported major investment programs and policy dialogue across Asia and the Pacific.
Mr. Zhang has published numerous op-eds, blogs, and articles on agriculture, natural resources management, and environmental sustainability.
Prior to his current role, he served as Chief of Rural Development and Food Security, and earlier as Director for Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Environment in ADB’s East Asia Department. Before joining ADB, Mr. Zhang was as a Director at the State Environmental Protection Administration in Beijing, a Senior Environment Specialist at the World Bank in Washington DC, and a Research Fellow at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Mr. Zhang holds a PhD in environmental engineering from Tsinghua University, as well as a master’s degree in water resources management and a bachelor’s degree in hydrology from Sichuan University. He also completed the Executive Development Program at Harvard Business School.
Website: ADB.org