Kamaluddin Tijjani is a cropping systems agronomist conducting research across a diverse range of tropical crops. His research interests include cropping systems, soil health and fertility management, plant nutrition, and digital extension advisories. He joined CIMMYT in 2023 to support various aspects of cropping systems and soil health research in the Southern Africa region.
Prior to joining CIMMYT, Kamaluddin worked at the Center for Dryland Agriculture in Nigeria and later at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, also in Nigeria. He holds a Bachelor of Science in General Agriculture, a Master of Science in Agronomy, and a Doctorate in Agronomy (specializing in crops and cropping systems in drylands), all from Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria.
Debashis Chakraborty has Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi specializing in Soil Physics, Soil and Water Management and Geoinformatics.
Commencing his career as a Research Scientist, Chakraborty progressed to the position of National Fellow at ICAR. He has been involved in various R&D projects as the Principal Investigator, focusing on LULC dynamics, water and nutrient dynamics and participatory-GIS, and collaborated with IRRI and CIMMYT on long-term experiments and conservation agriculture. Additionally, he has also worked as a post-doctoral fellow Rothamsted Research, UK and at the University of Sydney, Australia under the DFAT fellowship.
Chakraborty is a Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India, and Academy of Science &Technology, West Bengal. Since 2001, Dr Chakraborty has been a PG Faculty of IARI and has supervised Masters, Doctoral, and Post-doc students. He has to his credit 80 research papers with 7627 citations and an h-index of 40, and a book on ‘Fundamentals of GIS’.
Chakraborty specializes in sustainable resource management, focusing on cereal-based, rainfed agricultural systems in South, Central, and West Asia, as well as North Africa. His work involves developing strategies to optimize water, soil, and crop management practices in regions that depend on rainfed agriculture. By addressing challenges such as water scarcity, soil degradation, and climate variability, he aims to enhance the resilience and productivity of these critical farming systems, ensuring long-term sustainability and food security in these areas.
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Fredrick Otiato is a highly analytical and process-oriented researcher with extensive expertise in research methodologies, data management, and statistical analysis. He holds an MSc in Applied Statistics from the University of Nairobi and a BSc in Statistics from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. With a career spanning more than a decade in roles such as Senior Research Analyst and Data and Insights Manager, Fredrick has led complex data operations and supported the design and analysis of both qualitative and quantitative research. He has also contributed to various research projects, resulting in multiple scientific publications. Passionate about using data to drive meaningful insights, Fredrick is dedicated to creating actionable outcomes that foster growth and development.
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Harshit Rajan is the GIS Specialist in the SAS program at CIMMYT. His role revolves around geospatial activities, primarily centered around his roles within CSISA and SIS. Within the confines of CIMMYT, his professional pursuits are firmly directed toward two critical areas: Drainage class mapping and Digital Soil Mapping, both of which are augmented by cutting-edge machine-learning techniques.
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Dr. Bhavani P is the Geospatial Analyst in the Sustainable Agrifood Systems program at CIMMYT. She obtained a Ph.D. degree from the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad on the research topic “Spatio-temporal Assessment of Agricultural Performance and its Drought Vulnerability using Long-term Satellite and Climate Data”.
Dr. Bhavani P. provides solutions to farmers (at various scales – farmers to policy level) using remote sensing and geoprocessing. She acquired contemporary professional knowledge, climate data processing, machine learning techniques for image processing, R, and Google Earth Engine (GEE) with programming proficiency in JavaScript, and Python.
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Kabita Kunwar is the ICT and Data Analyst in the Sustainable Agrifood Systems program at CIMMYT. She specializes in data collection app administration, digital advisories, fintech, and facilitating digital finance for agribusinesses. Kabita is driving the adoption of proven technologies and advisories to benefit smallholder farmers and agribusinesses in Nepal.
Harish Gandhi is a Breeding Lead for Dryland Legumes and Cereals in CIMMYT’s Genetic Resources program in Kenya. He is a transformative plant breeding and genetics professional, with more than 15 years experience of driving genetic gains, building effective teams, and pioneering innovative research and development.
Lokesh Chaudhary is an agronomist with expertise in seed physiology, crop modelling, precision agriculture and GIS GNSS. He is currently learning about drone piloting, data collection and processing.
At CIMMYT, Chaudhary works on resilient climate agriculture, under which technology transfer is done. Expertise in agronomy, seed and machinery is required and used extensively. He supports in the execution of farmers participatory and on-station demonstrations/research trials on climate-resilient agricultural practices, monitors day-to-day field activities (irrigation, fertilizer, herbicide, insecticide, etc.) and conducts data collection of the farmers participatory/research trials.
Maxwell Mkondiwa is a CIMMYT Associate Scientist – Spatial Economist based in New Delhi, India. He joined CIMMYT in January 2022.
His research focuses on ex-ante and ex-post spatial economic assessments of the adoption potential and impact of agricultural technologies. The general fields in which he conducts his research include spatial economics, economics of agricultural research, production economics, marketing economics (industrial organization), development economics, applied spatial Bayesian econometrics, and economic applications of mathematical optimization.
He holds a PhD in Applied Economics from University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, an MSc in Applied Economics from University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, an MSc in Research Methods from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, and a BSc in Agricultural Economics from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Bunda College Campus).
K.M. Zasim Uddin is an agricultural development officer with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Bangladesh. He has a masters in agronomy from Rajshahi University
He is part of projects including the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), Fall Armyworm R4D and Management (FAW), Big data analytics for climate-smart agricultural practices in South Asia (Big Data² CSA), and Climate Services for Resilient Development in South Asia (CSRD). His main responsibilities are research and development on agricultural mechanization for the CSISA Mechanization and Extension Activity (CSISA-MEA). He has participated in versatile training, workshops and conference programs across Asia.
Uddin has worked in different national and international non-government organizations and companies for more than 13 years, including in research and development at Syngenta Bangladesh Limited and on the Borga Chasi Unnayan Program at BRAC. He also worked as an agriculture officer under the Char Livelihood Program, funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development.
Azahar Ali Miah is a senior monitoring, evaluation and learning officer with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) project in Bangladesh.
Before joining CIMMYT in 2009, he worked with different development organizations, including projects funded by the World Bank, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the United Kingdom Department for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He also has six years’ experience in the Bangladesh Army.
Miah has a strong ability to identify community strengths and weaknesses from field data collections. He is an excellent team builder and motivator with honed communication and analytical thinking skills. He has seven publications in national and international journals, and is an agricultural economist with an MBA.
Mustafa Kamal is a GIS and remote sensing analyst in CIMMYT, leading the GIS, remote sensing and data team in Bangladesh as part of the Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program’s Innovation Sciences in Agroecosystems and Food Systems theme across Asia.
Kamal’s core expertise is in earth observation and geospatial data science, scientific and cloud computing, webGIS, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), advance landcover-landuse classification, and tool development. He contributes to research and innovation of irrigation and agro-meteorological advisory, crop identification and yield prediction, disaster and crop monitoring, landscape diversity, and climate analytics. He has published many peer-reviewed papers, reports, and training manuals, and provided teaching/training.
Kamal’s interdisciplinary background in urban and rural planning and disaster management helps him to integrate and lead an interdisciplinary team to provide solutions for sustainable agrifood systems.
Sieg Snapp is the director of the Sustainable Agrifood Systems program at CIMMYT, which brings together global agricultural economics, systems analysis on agrifood innovations and agricultural systems for development in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
As a Professor of Soils and Cropping Systems Ecology at Michigan State University and Associate Director of the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, she led research on sustainable farming, particularly for cereal-based, rainfed systems in Africa and North America.
Snapp first partnered with CIMMYT in 1993, when she developed the “mother and baby” trial design. This go-to tool for participatory research has developed farmer-approved technologies in 30 countries.
Snapp has partnered with local and international scientists to tackle sustainable development goals, improve livelihoods and farm sustainably. Her two hundred publications and text books address co-learning, ecological intensification and open data to generate relevant science.
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João Vasco Silva is an Agronomy-at-scale Data Scientist with the Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program based in Harare, Zimbabwe. His expertise includes yield gap and resource use efficiency analysis, farming systems research, and integrated assessments at field, farm, and regional levels.
He is currently involved in different research projects in Africa dealing with spatially explicit ex-ante assessments of agricultural technologies and sustainable intensification of farming systems in the region.
Silva holds a PhD from Wageningen University, where he is a guest researcher at the Plant Production Systems Group.
Tesfaye Shiferaw Sida is a multi-disciplinary researcher, educator and R&D practitioner emphasizing on production ecology and resource conservation. He currently holds a Scientist position at International Maize & Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). He organizes and runs projects that facilitate the delivery of agronomy-at-scale solutions, create links among institutions in digital decision support systems, assist implementation of next generation agronomy at scale innovations and nurture internal efficiencies for demand-driven R&D in agronomy.
He is passionate for data-driven decisions, hence proficient in advanced data analytics and programing tools including Python, R, ArcGIS, and more. He is experienced with dynamic systems modeling tools such APSIM, FARMSIM, STELLA and SMILE. He aspires to link hands-on, on-farm and practical experiences to the emerging big data and digital capabilities to assist smallholder farmers benefit from the ‘digital revolution’.
