Gatien Falconnier is a systems agronomist interested in the impact of sustainable agricultural intensification on food security and income, in the smallholder context of sub-Saharan Africa. His work combines on-farm and on-station experimentation, crop and farm modelling, to explore scenarios of change in farmers practices, with current and future climate.
Blessing Mhlanga is a cropping systems agronomist working under the Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Eastern and Southern Africa by adapting innovative cropping systems. He obtained his PhD from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Italy in 2022. He joined CIMMYT as an intern in 2009 and has served as a consultant under different CIMMYT projects since 2016. Blessing has also co-led workpackages under some CG initiatives.
Mazvita Chiduwa works with smallholder farmers in maize-based, mixed farming systems under pressure to improve system resilience. Chiduwa’s training and background are in legume integration into farming systems, including a focus on rhizobia inoculant production, quality control, regulation, and application.
Chiduwa joined CIMMYT in 2022 and is working on diversification of maize-based farming systems in Malawi using conservation agriculture and different intercrop arrangements between maize and the legumes cowpea, groundnut, pigeon pea and soybean. She is also working on developing a digital agronomy decision tool for smallholder farmers, working with farmers in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. The pilot work is being implemented in the context of soybean in maize-based systems with the intention to develop it for other crops in future. The main research questions are to do with soybean variety choices, planting dates, crop establishment methods and site-specific nutrient recommendations.
Frédéric Goulet is an agricultural engineer and holds a PhD in sociology. Since 2008, he has been a social scientist at the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD, France). Between 2013 and 2018, he was a visiting researcher at INTA-Argentina, then a visiting professor at the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Since September 2022, he has been a visiting researcher at CIMMYT.
His research focuses on science, technology and innovations studies. It focuses on technological innovation processes in agriculture. More specifically, he is interested in the emergence of new technologies or the decline of problematic technologies, and in the roles played by public policies, agricultural research, input industries and farmers in these processes. Recently, his work has focused on the emergence of biological alternatives to chemical pesticides.
Since 2022, Frédéric Goulet has also been the coordinator of the Public Policies and Rural Development in Latin America network (red PP-AL), a network of scientists and institutions analyzing and acting on agricultural and rural development policies in Latin America.
Geoffrey Muricho works for CIMMYT as a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist based in Nairobi. Before joining CIMMYT, he was a scientist (Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation Specialist) at ICRISAT where he coordinated monitoring, learning and evaluation activities of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded projects (TL III, HOPE II and AVISA) in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Besides monitoring, learning and evaluation, Geoffrey is an experienced research economists with expertise in agricultural technology adoption and impact assessments using quantitative and qualitative methods. Previously, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) where he focused his research on technology adoption, gender analysis and impact assessments. Before joining ICIPE, he worked as a Research Associate with CIMMYT and ICRISAT. Geoffrey obtained his PhD (Economics) and MSc. (Agricultural Economics) from the University of Nairobi. He also holds BSc (Agr. Econ).
SP Poonia is a Lead Researcher with CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program and Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in India.
Through his work, he aims to feed nutritionally rich and safe food globally through best collective efforts for enhancing farming systems’ productivity with efficient resource use and the adoption of conservation agriculture-based preferred technologies at grassroot level.
Sarah Kariuki is a markets and value chains specialist at CIMMYT in Kenya. Her research is mainly on cereal seed systems, specifically the demand for newer and improved varieties. Her other lines of work include research on how food markets can be made more efficient and assessment of consumer demand for higher-quality and safer foods. She holds a PhD in Development Economics from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
Saiful Islam is a Research Coordinator and Cropping Systems Agronomist with the Innovation Science for Agroecosystems and Food Systems in Asia research theme in CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Bangladesh.
Currently, he has experiments run by local collaborators at over 50 farmers’ fields in the north-west region of Bangladesh. Capacity development with researchers, extension agents, and farmers is an important part of the team’s work. He and their team share results through publications, ranging from scientific articles to extension leaflets, and scale recommendations for farmers through the innovation networks.
Islam works closely with farmers, farmer organizations, national and international non-governmental organizations, and agricultural research and development institutions to help rural people with food and nutritional security for a given community.
Md. Shariful Islam is a Machinery Development officer in the Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Bangladesh.
He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the IUBAT-International University of Business Agriculture and Technology and more than ten years of experience as a mechanical engineer across different industries in Bangladesh. Islam has worked as a senior assistance manager at PEB Steel Alliance Ltd. (PEBSAL) as a mechanical engineer at Quazi Enterprises Limited (QEL) and at Dhaka Tobacco Industries.
Md. Rokonnuzzaman Rokon is a machinery development officer with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Bangladesh. He graduated from Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University in 2014 with a degree in agricultural engineering, before completing a masters in irrigation and water management at Bangladesh Agricultural University.
After finishing his masters, Rokon joined Solargao Ltd as an assistant engineer to a solar irrigation project, before becoming a lecturer at the Government Shahid Akbar Ali Science and Technology College. He joined CIMMYT in 2022.
Mohammad Shahidul Islam is an agricultural development officer with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Bangladesh.
After graduating in agricultural science, Islam completed a masters in agronomy. He started his professional life with the Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) as a technical officer focusing on poverty reduction, rural service market development, and capacity development.
Islam has been with CIMMYT since 2014 and has a decade worth of experience in agricultural research and development, providing technical and/or management to support the design and implementation of project strategies considering agriculture mechanization, livelihoods, food security, and the empowerment of women. In addition, he has expertise in knowledge management, capacity building, integrated development communications and advocacy to develop and scale-up innovations, using people-centered and community-based development approaches to sustain against climate change penalties that develop their socio-economic condition.
A. N. M. Arifur Rahman is a machinery development officer with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Bangladesh. He is currently working within the agricultural machinery and light engineering sector and is proud to be a member of the CIMMYT family.
Before joining CIMMYT, Rahman worked with Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS) Bangladesh under European Union funded projects and with ACI Motors on agricultural machinery, research and development, extension, scaling up mechanization, value chains and market systems.
Rahman is a proud agricultural engineer, graduated from the Bangladesh Agricultural University with a major in farm power and machinery. He has three national publications on agricultural machinery and additional experience in training, climate smart mechanization, people with disabilities, gender, and emergency responses on floods or natural disasters.
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.