The CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture’s digital forum on COVID-19 and food security brings emergent research and on-the-ground realities together in conversation in order to map out the direct impacts of the crisis across food value chains and glean data-driven recommendations and solutions.

This third episode discusses tools for agile adaptation regarding digital extension and agricultural advisories.

Click here to view a summary of the session, including key takeaways from each speaker.

Speakers

Madina Amin Hussein | Founder and CEO, Global Nature Conservation

Madina Amin Hussein is the founder and CEO of Global Nature Conservation, an environmental organization based in Garissa, Kenya, that focuses on nature conservation, restoration of degraded ecosystems, and empowerment of women smallholder farmers through teaching them about climate-smart agriculture and sustainable farming. She is a passionate environmentalist who has won awards for her initiatives such as Miti Cash and Throw Seed Technology, which she pioneered with the aim of conserving nature while supporting livelihood improvement of pastoral communities.

Ram Dhulipala | International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

Ram Dhulipala leads the Digital Agriculture Theme at ICRISAT, Hyderabad, where he also leads their iHub innovation center. iHub is a digital incubator where tech start-ups, researchers, private sector companies and government officials meet and share information related to agriculture and extension, as well as ideas about how to reach farmers more effectively. He has extensive experience in architecting solutions in Enterprise IT environments, as well as working in executive positions in the corporate sector in the areas of finance, corporate strategy, program management and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) across diverse sectors. Ram is a strong believer in partnerships and has managed complex projects that bring together people/teams with diverse skills and backgrounds.

Jonathan Steinke | Research Fellow, Alliance of Bioversity  and CIAT

Jonathan Steinke is a research fellow with the Digital Inclusion Team at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. His research focuses on facilitating farmer participation in agricultural research and extension through novel mass-participatory methodologies, such as citizen science, and the use of modern ICT. Through user-centered design with smallholder farmers and extension agents in Tanzania and Kenya, he contributed to developing the ‘Ushauri’ semi-automatized agro-advisory hotline.

Shreya Agarwal | Director of Strategy, Digital Green

Shreya Agarwal is the Director of Strategy at Digital Green (DG, digitalgreen.org), a global NGO that uses technology & partnerships to support smallholders increase their incomes. DG focuses on using participatory videos shared via multiple digital channels to strengthen public extension services. Shreya has 10+ years of experience in International Development focused on agriculture and health across India/ Africa & private sector consulting. She has a Masters from Harvard Kennedy School & Institute of Development Studies, and is based in San Francisco.