Innovations for Agricultural Value Chains in Africa: Applying Science and Technology to Enhance Cassava, Dairy, and Maize Value Chains

Project Partners and Staff

Four categories of partners will, together, contribute to the overall project goals.

1. Science Team: Twelve people at the leading edge of their disciplines will help generate new ideas about the application of emerging science, technology, and innovation to constraints and challenges in the priority value chains. Members of the Science Team are listed below. Summaries of their experience can be found at the following link.
   • Robert L. Adams, Principal, Robert Adams Consulting, USA
   • Patrick Beattie, Product Development Specialist, Diagnostics For All, USA
   • Jeffrey Carbeck, Chief Scientist, Nano-Terra and Chief Technology Officer, Arsenal Medical, USA
   • Luiz Alberto Colnago, Researcher, Embrapa Agriculture Instrumentation, Brazil
   • Paula Hammond, Bayer Chair Professor and Executive Officer, Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
   • Frans Kampers, Program Manager, Bio-NanoTechnology, Centre for Food and Health Innovations, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
   • John Morrell, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, USA
   • Moses Kizza Musaazi, Team Leader Technology for Tomorrow (T4T) Team, Leader & Coordinator PISAT Senior Lecturer, Department of Electrical Engineering, Makerere University, Uganda
   • Godwin Ndossi, Managing Director, Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre, Tanzania
   • Thalappil Pradeep, Department of Chemistry and Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facility, Indian Institute of Technology, India
   • Carmichael Roberts, General Partner, North Bridge Venture Partners, USA
   • Christina Smolke, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, Stanford University, USA
2. Value Chain Partners: There are four partner organizations that have deep expertise and experience within a specific value chain. Food Research Institute of Ghana is the Partner for the Cassava Value Chain; International Livestock Research Institute and East Africa Dairy Development Project, both of Kenya are the Partners for the Dairy Value Chain; and the Eastern Africa Grain Council of Kenya is the Partner for the Maize Value Chain. These partners, will help prepare for the field trips; identify value chain experts and participants that will interact with the Science Team; provide their own insights about value chain constraints; participate in the field trip; and assist with the prioritization of ideas generated by the Science Team for business plan development. Additional information about the Value Chain Partners can be found at the following link.
3. Value Chain Experts and Participants: Additional key people in Sub-Saharan Africa with deep understanding of the maize, cassava and dairy value chains who can: provide input on specific value chain constraints; offer feedback on ideas for new products and tools; be involved in the business plan development; and possibly, product development and commercialization activities. This category will include, for example, farmers, processors, storage facility operators, transporters, aggregators, and others. Additional experts providing technical support are the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria; Natural Resources Institute (NRI), UK; International Center for the Improvement of Maize and Wheat (CIMMYT), Mexico; and icipe - African Insect Science for Food and Health, Kenya.
4. Local Entrepreneurs and Technology Adopters: Local companies, entrepreneurs, institutions, and NGO’s who have the potential to adopt technologies that are identified in the project. These local partners will be identified as much as possible in advance of the field trips, so that these local entrepreneurs can be included in the development and vetting of the business plans.
5. Additional Consultants: New Growth International has been contracted to develop a Lessons Learned Report; Arthur D. Little will assist in the development of business plans for three most promising technologies identified during the field trips. Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and NRM (WOCAN) will ensure gender issues are integrated throughout the process and Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture (PIPRA) will consult on a global access strategy. Conrod Associates Communications L.L.C. will produce video overviews of each value chain and brief highlights of key value chain constraints.
   

The following Meridian Institute team is implementing the project.

• Todd Barker, Partner
• Rex Raimond, Senior Mediator
• Sara Suriani, Project Coordinator
• Rob Williams, Mediator
• Kerri Wright Platais, Mediator