He encouraged the younger generation of thinkers to venture into the fine arts, investigate its relation to history of life sciences and to go out and create global academies and research institutions using technology.
He led visions on agricultural development in Africa by initiating effective scientific projects leading to advancement in growing indigenous crops and disseminating methods of insect control.
He marked his arrival into the world of insect science through a sole-authored short communication in Nature journal titled, Metabolic effects of corpus allatum hormone, in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria.
[3] In the article, Prof. Odhiambo observed that scientific research was urgently required in the then postcolonial Africa, to develop environmentally safe strategies to increase agricultural production, and to address prevalent tropical and vector borne diseases.
At the same time, Prof. Odhiambo noted, the indigenous scientific community in Africa was ‘woefully small’, and the continent was hardly equipped, from a financial and infrastructural point of view, to effectively tackle the challenges at hand.
Giving the example that eventually led to the establishment of icipe, Prof. Odhiambo recommended that Africa's insect research could be located in one centre that would have the best equipment, which would be put to the best advantage.