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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification

Author: Zach Stewart

SIIL Joins African Union Technical Networks

L to R: Drs. Zach Stewart, Jemimah Njuki and Jan Middendorf attended the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa Forum where African heads of state and scientific leaders gathered to discuss the importance of the Malabo Declaration and CAADP to African agricultural transformation.

Nairobi, Kenya -The Feed the Future Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab (SIIL), through the invitation from the African Union Commission (AUC), has joined the Research and Extension Technical Network and the Knowledge Management, Policy Analysis and Accountability for Results Technical Network which will steer the African Union-led Comprehensive African Agriculture and Development Programme (CAADP). CAADP was reaffirmed in 2014 by African Union Heads of State and Government through the Malabo Declaration which laid out an ambitious set of goals to achieve accelerated agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods in Africa. In order to guide these goals, seven thematic technical networks consisting of leading organizations working across Africa have been organized.

The Research and Extension Technical Network was established to provide training and technical advice in agricultural research and extension to government entities on policies, priority interventions and good practices that can accelerate achievement of national, regional and continent agriculture production, productivity and food security goals related to Malabo and CAADP.

The Knowledge Management, Policy Analysis and Accountability for Results Technical Network is designed to channel best practices in relevant agricultural development areas as it relates to measuring, monitoring and evaluating progress. This network will share strategic planning processes, agriculture statistics and data management resources, and support knowledge generation and dissemination. The intent of this technical network is to build countrywide capacity to strengthen policy analysis and develop mutual accountability and knowledge management systems.

Dr. Vara Prasad, Director of SIIL, Dr. Jan Middendorf, Associate Director, and Dr. Zach Stewart, Research Associate, will serve as the key advisers between SIIL and these CAADP technical networks. Continue reading “SIIL Joins African Union Technical Networks”

Graduate Student Seeks to Cultivate New Farming Practices in Bangladesh

Aaron Shew (middle) and his research colleagues take a break from their work to enjoy a coconut
Aaron Shew (middle) and his research colleagues take a break from their work to enjoy a coconut

Coastal Bangladesh is sinking. To protect the region and its inhabitants, embankments were built around the most vulnerable delta islands in the 1960s, creating polders. Though the polders have provided protection to the region’s eight million inhabitants, they have created difficulty for the area’s farming families. Graduate student Aaron Shew is working to change that.

According to Shew, the low farm productivity stems from water management issues. The nature of the polders requires water to be managed with sluices. In the dry season, the lack of fresh water in the rivers makes water sources too salty. In the rainy season, flooding wreaks havoc on crops.

“In the dry season, more than 90 percent of the farmland on the polders is fallow,” Shew, an environmental dynamics doctoral student, said. “In the rainy season, rice crops frequently become submerged in water and die before they can be harvested.”

The Distinguished Doctoral Fellow believes these problems could be solved by finding crops better suited to the polders’ unique environmental conditions. Continue reading “Graduate Student Seeks to Cultivate New Farming Practices in Bangladesh”

East African Researchers Attend Spatial Data Workshop Series in Tanzania

Arusha, Tanzania – August, 15-19GSP 074

The Geospatial and Farming Systems Research Consortium (GSFRC) kicked off its workshop series in Arusha, Tanzania with 46 early-career research and development professionals from across East Africa gathering to advance their skills in programming, modeling and mapping of spatial data. The workshop was organized by the Feed the Future Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, the African Soil Information Service and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

Over 300 people applied to attend the workshop and 46 of East Africa’s up-and-coming researchers were selected to attend; each showing both motivation and applicability of this training to their work. The training was free of charge and lodging and meals were provided. Participants traveled from Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, and Tanzania and had backgrounds ranging from agronomy, plant breeding and soil scientists to hydrology, climatology, wildlife conservation and virology.

This five-day, hands-on workshop on data science for agricultural development covered an introduction to R software and how to use R for data analysis and modeling with an emphasis on spatial data. Continue reading “East African Researchers Attend Spatial Data Workshop Series in Tanzania”

New hires boost research in Feed the Future Lab for Sustainable Intensification

Team members photoBuilding on the momentum of announcing its research subawards earlier this year, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification (SIIL) is enhancing its capacity by adding three new team members to achieve its goals and objectives.

Vara Prasad, director of the lab, said these new staff additions enhance support to SIIL’s activities in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Cambodia.

“Given the diverse experience represented by these new hires, I am confident that SIIL will continue to progress toward its goal by working with smallholder farmers to achieve food and nutritional security and support the Feed the Future initiative led by USAID,” Prasad said.

Continue reading “New hires boost research in Feed the Future Lab for Sustainable Intensification”