Board members will provide crucial guidance to the Horticulture Innovation Lab over the coming years.
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture at the University of California, Davis is excited to welcome our International Advisory Board (IAB)! Comprised of a diverse set of experts in the world of horticulture, agro-economic, agro-social, nutrition, and policy research, our members will provide critical advice to our Management Entity in the coming years. They will offer guidance on all major aspects of the program, from project development and implementation to assessing program progress, and ensuring the Horticulture Innovation Lab’s research, research leaders, and programs are locally led, equitable, diverse, and inclusive. Our members hail from institutions and organizations across the globe in both the public and private sector, an essential blend for the successful scaling of horticulture research globally.
“The Horticulture Innovation Lab is excited to welcome such a high caliber of international advisory board members, including outstanding experts in the broad field of horticulture for development. We look forward to working closely with this group as our locally led, globally supported program is developed and rolled out.”
-Dr. Elizabeth Mitcham, Director
IAB Members: Who are they?
Five members work in the four priority geographic regions our program works in: West Africa, East Africa, Central America and South/Southeast Asia. They will provide technical expertise to the overall program, ensure research projects selected for implementation will accurately reflect the greatest challenges and opportunities of horticulture in their prospective regions, and inform our global network of lessons learned locally.
"Currently 1 in 3 persons suffer from malnutrition in all its forms. One of the expensive components of a healthy diet are fruits and vegetables needed to bring diversity to the diet and contribute to the essential micronutrient. Women who produce these nutritious crops should be supported, to earn attractive incomes from their farming activities. Fruit and vegetable losses in the value chain needs to be reduced. This calls for the collaboration of all stakeholders within the horticulture value chain."
-Dr. Anna Lartey
West Africa/Nutrition: Dr. Anna Lartey is currently a professor of nutrition at the University of Ghana and brings decades of experience in the field, from her research in Sub-Saharan Africa to her time as a Director of Nutrition at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
East Africa/Crop Systems: Dr. Lusike Wasilwa is the current Director of Crop Systems at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), where she focuses on how biodiversity can contribute to food, nutrition, and income security.
Central America/Ag Extension: Maria Ester Bucaro is the Chief of Party for Counterpart International Guatemala and a seasoned leader in food security and agricultural programs, including her role as one of the first women to implement the country’s rural agricultural extension system.
South / South East Asia/Youth + Private Sector: Kushal Naharki, a Nepalese youth activist, has worked extensively in agricultural extension and for multiple youth empowerment NGO’s in Asia and the U.S. Dr. Mary Ann Sayoc brings both a private and public perspective through her current position as the Public Affairs Lead for East-West Seed Group in Thailand and past work leading Philippine government agencies as Regional Director of the Department of Agriculture and Executive Director of the Agricultural Training Institute.
Consortium Scaling Partners: Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) and the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) help our program align research deliverables for broad dissemination. Vincent Roger is the current Director of Program Development for CNFA West Africa and he brings extensive experience developing business models that will encourage agribusiness investment in Africa. Dr. Latha Nagarajan is an active member of the IFDC and the current Director of the SOILS (Sustainable Opportunities for Improving Livelihoods with Soils) Consortium, where she focuses on evaluating and assessing agricultural technologies adoption, input market interventions, and policy research.
Innovation Lab Partner/ Evaluation: Dr. Jan Middendorf is the Associate Director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification (SIIL) at Kansas State University and as such leads the organization’s research, monitoring, and evaluation activities while also establishing partnerships from the community to the international level.
CGIAR / Gender: Dr. Hazel Malapit works at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) as their Senior Research Coordinator, where she coordinates and implements gender equity tools to ensure women are empowered throughout the value chain.
IAB members will drive HIL’s highest priorities: Locally led development + Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The inclusion of this board, especially our regional representatives, in decision-making processes will ensure a more equitable, localized rollout of projects in each of the priority regions and will help guide on the ground research. Additionally, this body will be tasked with how to bring greater diversity, equity, and inclusion to every aspect of the Horticulture Innovation Lab’s work – from identifying challenges, awarding projects, implementation, and disseminating results. We are excited to work with this exceptional panel of experts over the coming years and are grateful for their contributions—past, present, and future—to positively impacting smallholder farmers around the world.