Fall 2024 Harry ’51 and Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series

Register to attend via Zoom.

Abstract

Agriculture remains integral to Nigeria’s economy, accounting for 24% of the GDP and employing 38% of the workforce. Despite this, widespread multidimensional poverty impacts millions reliant on agriculture for their livelihoods. Driven by rapid adoption of mobile phones and increased access to internet connectivity, digital agriculture (DA) promises to unlock opportunities to boost productivity, enhance food security, and build resilience against climate crises. DA innovations such as mobile-based extension models, digital marketplaces, financial solutions, and shared mechanization services, offer smallholder farmers tools to sustainably improve yields, reduce losses, and optimize resource use. However, as an emerging sub-sector, DA in Nigeria faces key barriers, including inadequate infrastructure, limited access to finance and weak policy and regulatory environment. Based on ongoing research with several faculty members at Cornell University, this seminar explores Nigeria’s DA ecosystem, highlighting innovative use cases, scalability challenges, and critical policy interventions needed to advance digital transformation in agriculture.

About the speaker

John B. Babadara is a development expert with about a decade of experience working to transform agrifood systems in Africa. He has led and supported complex, multi-stakeholder programs that create value and spur innovation in agriculture, climate adaptation, circular economy and rural entrepreneurship in Africa. He is the co-founder and managing partner of AceAgric Agritech, a management consulting firm, and the founder of Tomatrix Postharvest Innovation for Nutrition (TOPIN), a social enterprise which addresses rural poverty and food loss through value-added agro-processing. John champions sustainable development through policy intervention, innovation management and social entrepreneurship. In recognition of his significant contributions to agrifood systems in Nigeria, he was awarded the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship at Cornell University in 2022 by the US Department of State. Babadara holds a BSc. (ED) in Biology from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria and a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the Federal University of Dutsin-MA, Nigeria.

Seminar co-sponsors

Cornell Institute for Digital AgricultureInstitute for African Development in the Cornell Einaudi Center for International StudiesAbout the seminar series

The Harry ’51 & Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series showcases innovative approaches to development with experts from around the globe. Each year, the series attracts online registrants from over 45 countries and more than 350 organizations.

Seminars are held Wednesdays from 12:20-1:10 p.m. eastern time during the semester in 175 Warren Hall. Students, faculty and the general public are welcome to attend in-person or via Zoom.

The series is co-sponsored by the Department of Global Development, the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and the School of Integrative Plant Science as part of courses GDEV 4961, AEM 4961, NTRES 4961, GDEV 6960, AEM 6960, and NTRES 6960.

Since the end of colonialism in Africa, the continent has become a strategic battleground for influence among global superpowers. Russia, China, and the United States have each pursued distinct approaches that have shaped African nations in vastly different ways. An experienced diplomat in US-Africa relations, Ambassador Herman J. Cohen draws on his extensive career as a diplomat in the region, from the beginnings of African nationalism to the end of the Cold War, to share critical experiences from this varied history of involvement in Africa.

Ambassador Cohen explains what the past can tell us, not only regarding the enduring impact of these global power dynamics on Africa's trajectory but about the continent's evolving role in the shifting geopolitical landscape of the 21st century. He will be in conversation with Aileen Marshall, a former World Bank and USAID official, who worked closely with Ambassador Cohen during his career at the State Department.

About the Speakers
As an ambassador, advisor to Presidents, and a 38-year veteran of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Herman J. Cohen has devoted his entire professional career to African and European affairs. Cohen retired from the U.S. Department of State in 1993. His last position was assistant secretary of state for African affairs under President George H.W. Bush (1989-1993). During his 38-year career with the U.S. Foreign Service, he served in five African countries and twice in France. He was the ambassador to Senegal, with dual accreditation to the Gambia, from 1977 to 1980.

During assignments in Washington, he also served as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan (1987-1989), principal deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and research, and principal deputy assistant secretary for personnel. Through his role at the NSC in the Reagan White House, Cohen worked to bring about peaceful transitions of power in South Africa and Namibia and helped to end conflicts in Angola, Ethiopia, and Mozambique.

He is the author of a number of books, including Intervening in Africa: Superpower Peacemaking in a Troubled Continent (2000), The Mind of the African Strongman: Conversations with Dictators, Statesmen, and Father Figures (2015), US Policy Toward Africa: Eight Decades of Realpolitik (2020), and a recent memoir Africa, You Have a Friend in Washington (2023).

Aileen Marshall
​​​​​​​Aileen Marshall has considerable professional experience of socio-economic development, political economy, governance and conflict management in Africa. Since retiring from the World Bank in 2020, she works as an international development consultant and is a member of the management team for Partnership for Transparency Fund, a non-profit. Earlier in her career, she was Senior Advisor to the Global Coalition for Africa, responsible for its political economy portfolio, and served with USAID in Africa. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Durham in England.

Zoom Registration Link
Register in advance to join this virtual seminar

Host
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies

Co-sponsors
Institute for African Development and the East Asia Program

Over 70 undergraduate students will present their international summer experiences in a poster session. Their work includes conducting research, working in Global Internships, and putting leadership into action as Laidlaw scholars.

The poster session will be in the Baker Portico & Atrium of the Physical Sciences Building. Light refreshments will be served.

Applications for Global Internships are open now. Applications for the Laidlaw Scholars Program will open on November 15.

Global Internships give undergraduate students valuable international experience in fields spanning global development, climate and sustainability, international relations, communication, business, governance, and more. They are managed by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and Office of Global Learning, both part of Global Cornell.

The Laidlaw Undergraduate Leadership and Research Scholarship Program provides generous funding to first- and second-year undergraduates over two years as they pursue internationally focused research, engage in leadership training and a leadership-in-action experience, and join a global network of like-minded peers. The program is managed by the Einaudi Center.

The Laidlaw Undergraduate Leadership and Research Program promotes ethical leadership and international research around the world—starting with the passionate leaders and learners found on campuses like Cornell. Open to first- and second-year students, the two-year Laidlaw program provides generous support to carry out internationally focused research, develop leadership skills, engage with community projects overseas, and become part of a global network of like-minded scholars from more than a dozen universities. We’ll also share tips for approaching potential faculty research mentors and writing a successful application.

Register for the virtual session.

Can’t attend? Contact laidlaw.scholars@cornell.edu.

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The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies hosts info sessions for graduate and for undergraduate students to learn more about funding opportunities, international travel, research, and internships. View the full calendar of fall semester sessions.

Niwaeli Kimambo will share her ongoing work in Eastern Africa that links rural land use change to domestic urban actors. The work uses remote sensing analysis to track the emergence of tree crops (e.g., pine, eucalyptus, and avocado). Remote sensing analysis is paired with spatially explicit fieldwork from Uganda and Tanzania to argue that the rural tree crop boom is linked to new, urban-based land users. Direct involvement of urban-based citizens in rural land use signals a profound regional shift in rural land ownership and land markets. Dr. Kimambo will discuss the implications of this shift for environmental policy like tree-based landscape restoration, local ‘land grabs’, as well as geographic study of cross-scale phenomena.

Basic research, and applying what we learn directly to enhance conservation efforts, is a primary focus of the Elephant Listening Project. About equal effort is targeted at gathering new data from the forests of Central Africa, pushing the boundaries of how we can use acoustic monitoring to achieve conservation goals, and building capacity in Central Africa to ensure sustainable conservation into the future.

While the use of innovative technology is a key part of what we do, good old basic observational studies also play a key role. Linking specific calls to interactions requires careful (and long) observation. At the same time, we strive to teach local assistants and researchers how to use the technology, building capacity in the next generation of conservationists.