Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) Official Side Event
in collaboration with IFPRI and AFAAS for FAO Science and Innovation Forum
Multidimensional agricultural extension
to support innovation:
Experiences and lessons on building African
farmers’ resilience to global crises
Organized by
Date and Time（Webinar）
Overview
African smallholder farmers continue to adapt and innovate in the face of challenges such as low productivity, soil degradation, water scarcity, post-harvest losses, limited market access, and climate change. But global challenges continue to rise, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the major price increases of food, fertilizer and fuel aggravated by the crisis in Ukraine. Through a process of inclusive decision-making, knowledge sharing, and skills and technologies provision through agricultural extension, innovations can enable food, nutrition, and income security for African smallholders as well as build their resilience.
The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) is an international NGO that promotes adoption of cost-effective agriculture technologies for smallholder farmers through innovative agriculture extension models in Sub-Sahara Africa, some of which have been incorporated into the national extension policies in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda. SAA has reached millions of smallholder farmers in 17 African countries and helped improve their livelihood since 1986.
Together with the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), which is a continental platform for mutual learning and innovation among agricultural extension and advisory services providers across Africa, and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries, this forum will highlight the critical role of multidimensional agricultural extension services in supporting innovation among rural communities in Africa and will share hands-on partner experiences and lessons learned.
Program
*Please note that below time table is based on a time zone in Rome (CEST) which is UTC +2
| Time (CEST) | Session | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 – 12:10 | Welcome and Introductions | Dr. Makoto KitanakaPresident, Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) |
| 12:10 - 12:20 | Keynote Addresses | Dr. Selvaraju Ramasamy Senior Agricultural Officer, Office of Innovation, FAO |
| 12:20 - 12:40 | “Status and Future of Extension in Africa” | Dr. Kristin DavisSenior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) |
| “Delivering innovation through multidimensional agricultural extension in Africa” | Dr. Mel OluochStrategic Partnership Director, SAA |
|
| 12:40 - 13:20 | Experiences and Lessons | |
| ⅰ: Promotion of UreaDeepPlacement technology in face of fertilizer price increase | Dr. Gambo AbdulhamidDeputy Country Director, SAA-Nigeria |
|
| ⅱ: Digitalization of agricultural extension Potential of e-kakashi | Dr. Takashi Togami Service Planning Technology Division Technology Planning & Development Division CPS Technology Planning Department Deputy Director/ e-kakashi Business Director, SoftBank Corp. |
|
| ⅲ: Promotion of Biofortified crops in Africa: HarvestPlus experience | Ms. Sakile Kudita Research Fellow & Country Manager, Zimbabwe, HarvestPlus |
|
| ⅳ: A success story of a pluralistic agricultural extension model: the One Stop Center Association model in digitally-enabled private service provision | Mr.Godfrey MayambalaCenter Manager, Zirobwe Agaliawamu Agri-business Training Association (ZAABTA) |
|
| 13:20 – 13:50 | Q & A | |
| 13:50 – 14:00 | Way forward and concluding remarks | Dr. Silim NahdyExecutive Director, African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) |
Dr. Makoto Kitanaka
President, Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA)
Dr. Makoto Kitanaka (Japan) was appointed as President of the SAA in 2019. He has worked for JICA for more than 30 years and served as the Director General of the Department of Rural Development. Some of his achievements are: 1) expansion of the CARD (Coalition for African Rice Development) with the aim of doubling rice production in Africa in 10 years, 2) expansion of SHEP (Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment & Promotion in Africa）and 3) launch of IFNA (Initiative for Food and Nutrition Security in Africa).
Dr. Selvaraju Ramasamy
Senior Agricultural Officer, Office of Innovation, FAO
Dr Selvaraju Ramasamy is currently Senior Agricultural Officer, Office of Innovation at FAO of the UN. He leads FAO’s technical support for strengthening Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) and coordinates partnerships with National Agricultural Research Systems and Extension and Advisory Services and their regional networks. He manages the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP), and represents FAO at the CGIAR System Council, Inter-agency task team of UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) and the board of the Global Forum on Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS). Since 2007 with FAO, he held many advisory and coordination roles, including the Chair of the Partner Advisory Committee of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) (2015-2019), FAO-UNFCC partnership on adaptation (2008-2019), FAO-WMO partnership (2009–2019). Before FAO, he was a Senior Scientist with Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, Bangkok (2005-2007), and managed several multi-country research projects on climate forecast applications and participatory farm decision making (1999-2005). He was a visiting scientist at the University of Western Sydney, Australia, East West Centre, Hawaii and International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), New York (1999-2002). He holds a PhD in Agronomy (1994) specialized in agroclimatology and crop modelling.
Dr. Kristin Davis
Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Dr. Kristin Davis is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategy and Governance Division, IFPRI. An extension and education expert, she has conducted research on farmer field schools, rural institutions, agricultural innovation systems, pluralistic extension systems and extension education in Africa and worldwide. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension (JAEE) and has served as president of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education (AIAEE). Davis was the architect of the New Extensionist Learning Kit, a set of modules containing core competencies for the global extension agent.
Dr. Mel Oluoch
Strategic Partnership Director, SAA
Dr. Mel Oluoch, Strategic Partnership Director of the SAA, joined SAA since 2018 as the Regional Director and is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has a PhD in Horticulture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech, USA) an MSc in Horticulture from Central Mindanao University (Philippines), and a BSc Degree in Agriculture from the University of Eastern Africa (Kenya). He has previously held R&D and leadership capacities at the World Vegetable Center, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), HarvestPlus, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and Wageningen Plant Research, The Netherlands. His work has focused on multidisciplinary R&D disciplines that integrates agriculture and nutrition through the development and dissemination of Agriculture technologies and best practices such as integrated crop management technologies, climate-smart agriculture practices, resilient crop varieties and nutrition sensitive technologies that impacts rural and urban communities in Africa. Currently he coordinates SAAs strategic partnerships to enhance the design and program delivery of practical and innovative agricultural extension and advisory service and capacity building systems in Africa. He also leads the resource mobilization strategy for SAA.
Dr. Gambo Abdulhamid
Deputy Country Director, SAA-Nigeria
Dr. Gambo Abdulhamid is the Deputy Country Director, SAA-Nigeria, and a Life Member of Agricultural Extension Society of Nigeria (AESON). He holds a PhD in Economics and another PhD in Agricultural Economics and Extension from Usumanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, and Universite ANNAHADA respectively. He is a Fellow Certified Financial analyst, a Fellow National Institute of Management, and a Member National Economic Society of Nigeria. He is well experienced in managing Agricultural projects, Monitoring & Evaluation, Agricultural finance, teaching, and socio-economic research. His key areas of interest include; Agricultural Investment and Finance, Agri-business, Strategy development/Appraisal, Soil Degradation and Mitigation, Monitoring, and Evaluation. He has undergone several pieces of training in Risk mitigation, leadership, Proposal development, Strategic planning, and Relationship management. He participated in several seminars, conferences, and in-depth consultancy services with civil society, NGOs, and academia. Presently, he coordinates the implementation of the SAA-Nigeria program on Regenerative agriculture, Nutrition sensitive agriculture, and Market Oriented Agriculture.
Dr. Takashi Togami
Service Planning Technology Division, Technology Planning & Development Division, CPS Technology Planning Department, Deputy Director/ e-kakashi Business Director, SoftBank Corp.
Dr. Togami graduated with a B.S. in applied sciences from Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia, followed by a Master’s degree from Mie University in Japan, where he researched agricultural information and communication technology. He obtained Ph.D. in 2012, from Mie University, researching sensor networks and information utilization on farms. He joined SoftBank Mobile (current SoftBank Corp.) in 2013, where he currently leads agricultural IoT solution business (e-kakashi) as the business director, utilizing expertise in information engineering and agriculture. He has given a wide range of lectures including “Science Robotics meeting in Japan” and “Science Webinar” organized by AAAS/Science, “FOROMIC 2018” organized by the Inter-American Development Bank, the seminar jointly organized by Inter-American Dialogue and the Japan Association of Latin America and the Caribbean for the US government, companies, research institutions and Latin American and Japanese officials in Washington, the roundtable with about 30 experts including representatives of the State Department and other US government agencies, representatives of US universities and research institutions and the Peruvian ambassador to the US, JICA training programs, the special lectures at universities and agricultural colleges, and etc.
Ms. Sakile Kudita
Research Fellow & Country Manager, Zimbabwe, HarvestPlus
Sakile Kudita has more than 20 years’ experience working at the nexus of agribusiness, seed systems, food security and nutrition. Before joining HarvestPlus, she worked as a seed expert at CTDO during which time she helped establish a farmer seed enterprise now operating as Champion Farmer Seeds. She has also worked as a regional gene bank manager at ICRISAT and also as a research officer at CIMMYT. Sakile holds a BSc Degree in Crop Science, from the University of Zimbabwe, a Masters in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology from the National University of Science and Technology, and an MBA from the same university. She is also currently studying towards a PhD at Wageningen University with her research focused on upgrading traditional processing of fermented cereals for improved nutrition and health.
Mr. Godfrey Mayambala
Center Manager, Zirobwe Agaliawamu Agri-business Training Association (ZAABTA)
Mr. Mayambala Godfrey joined the Zirobwe Agaliawamu Agri-business Training Association (ZAABTA) in Uganda in 2010 as a youth. Since then he has focused on mobilizing the youth to participate in agriculture along the various enterprises along the value of promoted crops at the center that include Rice, Maize, Beans, Soybean, high value vegetables. He was selected as the center manager so that he can share his own experience as a beneficiary and also the other interventions that the OSCA has promoted to increase youth participation. He has been a champion in promoting the Commodity Association traders (CATs) model and all other SG2000 models – The Farmer learning platforms, seed production, Climate Smart Agriculture, Private Service Provision, Village savings and loan schemes among the farmers he works with.
Dr. Silim Nahdy
Executive Director, African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS)
Dr. Silim Nahdy is the Executive Director, of the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS). He holds a PhD in Agriculture from University of Reading having attained it in 1995 and since then has undertaken several trainings in R&D, leadership, strategic planning and partnership building. He is a Founder member of GFRAS and has been Chair of the GFRAS Steering Committee and team leader for the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) policy working group. Worked as Executive Director NAADS and a Director in NARO – Uganda. He has participated in several policy fora and/or supported policy formulation and policy dialogue in a number of African countries. He continues to be instrumental in partnership building and networking, between and among the whole range of actors involved in agricultural development at global, continental and national levels (involving farmers, extension workers, NGOs, CBOs, Local Authorities, line ministries, private sector etc.) and with development partners and programs of diverse backgrounds.
