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 fourth episode discusses bridging gaps and building resiliency with digital agriculture platforms.

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

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Speakers

Sophie Rottmann | Mediae Company

Sophie Rottmann is a Project Manager at Mediae, a social enterprise that addresses the information needs of East Africans through sustainable and research-based media productions. She currently oversees the production of Shamba Shape Up, East Africa’s largest farm make-over show on smallholder farms. She is committed to bridging the gap between research on (climate smart) agriculture and farmers, who could benefit from these findings if communicated with in a simple and accessible way.

Ashu Sikri | Digital Green

Ashu Sikri is a Product Strategist at Digital Green, 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. Ashu previously led Strategy at Crux Informatics, a fintech startup that manages data delivery and operations for financial services companies. He was also an early stage impact investor with Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm, and started his career at Audax Group, a Boston based private equity firm. Ashu studied Economics and Finance at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is based in Mumbai.

Mousumi Das| National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)

Mousumi Das is an Associate Fellow at the National Council of Applied Economic Research. Mousumi is a micro-econometrician and her research interests are in poverty measurement, nutrition and health, gender, migration, and education.  Mousumi was earlier an Assistant Professor in the Economics Department at Xavier University, Bhubaneswar, and, prior to that, an Assistant Professor at IFMR- KREA University in Chennai.  She has been a consultant with the World Bank where she worked with the South Asia Regional Gender Innovation Lab.

Carlos Castellanos | Cultivando Futuro

Carlos Castellanos is the Co-Founder & COO of Cultivando Futuro,an agribusiness platform based in Colombia to link up producers, organisations and buyers, enabling them to make better decisions based on key information. Carlos applies technology to create a positive social and sustainable impact within rural
Communities. He’s an advocate for farmers inclusion. He has been speaker in the Committee on World Food security CFS2019 at FAO (United Nations) and as COO of Cultivando Futuro he uses his expertise in agriculture knowledge and cooperation with rural communities to provide consultancy to and create alliances between organizations.