PODCAST · technology
CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme's Podcast
by GCProgramme
The CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme is a nonprofit global agricultural research partnership promoting modern crop breeding for food security
Episodes
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Episode 4.0 – Introducing cassava researcher Elizabeth Parkes – a female force to reckon with!
To mark the occasion of International Women’s Day 2014 (8th March), we asked esteemed GCP Lead Cassava Researcher in Ghana, Elizabeth Parkes, to share her thoughts on a few prevalent questions pertaining to women in agriculture and research for development. In this brief interview, Elizabeth...
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Episode 4.4 – Calling all budding crop researchers, particularly women! These are exciting times, especially for cassava!
Elizabeth exhorts young budding crop scientists out there – and young women in particular – who might looking to build a career for themselves in agricultural research for development, that this is their time. Using the example of cassava which has long been a poor 'country cousin' in crop…
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Episode 4.3 – On the ground: How women farmers with large-scale ambitions are ruling the roost in small-scale agriculture
Whilst often faced with severe hurdles such as unequal access to land, technologies and other key resources, women play a crucial role in agriculture, and represent up to half of the agricultural workforce in some developing countries. Here, Elizabeth highlights the story of one gutsy and totally...
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Episode 4.2 – Women scientists who are having their (cassava) cake and eating it too, thank you very much!
A young African woman raising a family whilst also seamlessly navigating a star-studded career in the crop sciences at international level? A nice thought, sure, but somewhat pie-in-the-sky stuff, right? Not so, says Elizabeth, who firmly believes that women from developing countries can...
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Episode 4.1 – Why supporting women matters – and will prove to pay dividends
Elizabeth explains why matters affecting women are dear to her heart, and, inspired by the oft-quoted Ghanaian intellectual, missionary, and teacher Rev Dr Kwegyir Aggrey on the community benefits of educating women, she expands on how supporting women can reap rich rewards in the fight against...
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Episode 3.2 -- A 15-year gene search ends successfully - Pup1 ‘Pa’ speaks on rice phosphorus uptake and partnerships
In the world of phosphorus, Matthias Wissuwa of the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) is somewhat of a ‘rock’ star. He has searched tirelessly for a rice gene that could improve rice yield in phosphorus-deficient soils –which make up half of the world’s soils,...
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Episode 3.1 – Phosphorus-poor no more: Presenting a 100% natural solution – the PSTOL1 gene
Half of the world’s ricelands are phosphorus-deficient. And while this problem can be overcome by phosphorus (P) fertilisers, this solution is often out of reach for poorer farmers, who are by far and away the vast majority. Matthias Wissuwa of the Japan International Research Center for...
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Episode 2.7c – Impacts on the ground: Support services as a savvy investment
Support services, Hannibal feels, are the backbone to good-quality research. As he tells us here, investing money in other areas of crop science without addressing the real needs of the people on the ground would, Hannibal declares resolutely, be like "throwing money out of the window". "Keep up...
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Episode 2.7b – Impacts on the ground: Tangible results – Great things come in small packages
Irrigation systems allowing off-season breeding work for drought-tolerant varieties in Ghana, Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso, with critical food crops such as rice, cassava, sorghum and more, was a major tangible result Hannibal recorded at the time of talking to GCP in mid-2012, though our...
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Episode 2.7a – Impacts on the ground: From healthy crops to healthy families and economies – a fascinating chain
From upstream research to food on the table, Hannibal walks us through the fascinating chain of events that he considers to be the real and lasting impacts on the ground, resulting directly from sound support services, functioning infrastructure and good training. Tune in for the all-important...
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Episode 2.6 – Successful partnerships & collaborations
Throughout the course of his work with GCP, Hannibal has witnessed numerous successful partnerships and collaborations. Here, he highlights the crucial factor of building trust for meaningful and sustainable interaction, a process which can, in turn, branch out to new connections for people on…
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Episode 2.5 – Highlights and rewards
Seeing research plots ticking as they should, and to learn of researchers finally obtaining the results their experiments were designed for, all thanks to infrastructure, equipment or training, are just a few of the simple yet profoundly moving rewards Hannibal talks about… A dream come true, he...
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Episode 2.4b – Challenges…and opportunitiesa: The sustainability challenge
Short tenure of researchers and those in the decision-making seat can pose a frustrating and very real threat to the longevity of any advances being made in the area of support services. Hannibal once again urges the powers-that-be to conduct a serious – and sustainable – support service action...
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Episode 2.4a – Challenges…and opportunitiesa: The support services gap
"No department, no funds, no budget line!" cries Hannibal, lamenting the recurring problem he’s seen time and again of a lack of formal commitment to support services, and issuing an impassioned plea to Directors of country agricultural research centres to begin investing in this crucial area, or...
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Episode 2.3 – Hannibal’s role: When he steps in, how, and why
Hannibal talks us through the life-cycle of an effective support service needs analysis, a process which should be done holistically, he explains, ensuring all bases are covered to have sites working like "a well-oiled machine". Regarding his role as mediator, Hannibal’s tricks of the trade and...
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Episode 2.2 – Motivation and inspiration: Support services, training, and infrastructure: why do they matter?
Empowering others to be agents of their own change and getting to the heart of the matter by addressing the real needs of quality agricultural research are two beautifully simple yet inherently powerful reasons as to why Hannibal believes that support services matter. Listeners are invited to…
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Episode 2.1 – The man at the helm: Introducing Hannibal Muhtar!
We get the low-down on Consultant Hannibal Muhtar, including his academic studies, his professional background, and a glimpse into his personal interests, revealing why GCP considered him to be just the man for the job! You can also read all about it on this blogpost.
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Episode 2 – The expert speaks: A nut-and-bolts approach to capacity empowerment – infrastructure and training
In today’s episode, we talk to Dr Hannibal Muhtar, the Consultant commissioned by the CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme (GCP), to undertake a series of on-site needs analyses for numerous GCP research sites across sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, Hannibal was asked to identify, together with...
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Episode 1.14 – Sustainability: Due diligence, and when to say 'No'
Expanding further on sustainability, Xavier reiterates the all-essential commitment from local staff on the ground. In the isolated cases where there were doubts on the commitment of research station managers and team members, GCP re-assessed the feasibility of investing in the site, accepted…
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Episode 1.13 – Sustainability: What will happen in the 'after-GCP'?
With GCP due to draw to a close in 2014, it is fundamental that the necessary steps be taken to ensure that the benefits of such investments continue after GCP disengages. Good collaboration and nurturing the commitment of local staff of all levels – particularly of research station managers –…
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Episode 1.12 – Going beyond sub-Saharan Africa and on to Asia: China and India
In addition to sub-Saharan Africa, GCP has also made similar investments for infrastructure, equipment and support service in India and China. However, as Xavier explains, it's an entirely different ball game because of a vastly different context, and the different needs and opportunities in this...
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Episode 1.11 – Effective collaboaration: Partnerships and a platform to prop it all up
GCP's research is interdisciplinary and cross-cutting in nature, and the work conducted by Hannibal and by GCP researchers exemplifies how, as neatly captured by Xavier, all these different legs need to be in place for the stool to stand up! Xavier talks about the critical role played by GCP’s...
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Episode 1.10 – Effective collaborations: Fitting different pieces together
Effective cross-cutting collaborations are at the core of almost all GCP research projects. Hannibal’s findings surfaced many examples of these positive synergies: GCP projects in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Nigeria are amongh those Xavier mentions. "With all team players engaging together...
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Episode 1.9 – Giving crop researchers a leg up
In what way does GCP, and these investments in support services, infrastructure and equipment, offer real and long-lasting value to crop researchers? Xavier explains that in working directly with, and facilitating the leadership role of, country programmes, GCP aims to ensure a more holistic...
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Episode 1.8 – Impact: making time, enhancing efficiency
A TIME AND WEATHER MACHINE FOR SCIENTISTS: Enabling field trials to be carried out as and when planned, assuring high-quality accurate data and facilitating extended breeding cycles, are just a few of the tangible results Xavier highlights...
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Episode 1.7 – Impacts: Tangible benefits to the community
Beyond the facilitation of efficient research experiments, the benefits on the ground following the implementation of Hannibal’s recommendations, are, as Xavier explains, wider-reaching, with improved crop varieties and the consequent benefits felt by local communities being among the key…
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Episode 1.6 -- Impacts: Going beyond target and project
Expounding on the issue of impacts on the ground, Xavier tells us about the spillover effects of these infrastructure and support service investments, which go well beyond the boundaries of specific research project activities and life-cycles.
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Episode 1.5 – Impacts: Kenya university to community
There are many positive impacts being felt on the ground following these investments by GCP, as reported by Xavier throughout the course of the interview. Here, Xavier narrates details of a particular ‘success story’ of GCP partner Egerton University in Kenya, where the establishment of an...
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Episode 1.4 -- Gaps and challenges: Xavier's personal impressions
Here, Xavier shares a few of his personal impressions and cherished lessons learned stemming from this project commissioned to Hannibal. Having come to GCP in 2009 from the private sector, Xavier reflects on how he was particularly struck by the realisation that often the most basic but...
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Episode 1.3 -- Gaps and challenges: The common ones
Whilst the sites visited by Hannibal may have varied greatly in terms of plot sizes, crops, climate and local conditions, Hannibal’s findings revealed several key challenges and gaps which were common to many of the sites. Amongst these, Xavier lists limited human and infrastructure resources as...
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Episode 1.2 -- Covering the basics: And why now?
Hannibal carried out his visits to the sites in 2010 and 2011, in parallel with the launch of many new GCP Research Initiative projects in 2010, and thus to ensure that adequate infrastructure would be in place in time for projects to be tested in the field in 2012. As stressed by Xavier in this...
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Episode 1.1 -- Covering the basics: Why these countries and institutes?
Hannibal’s analysis and the implementation of his recommendations have, as at June 2012, been conducted in eight countries across sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 and 2011. In this clip, Xavier explains why these specific countries were selected, highlighting GCP’s targeting, in its second phase...
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Episode 2 trailer – A nuts-and-bolts approach to local capacity empowerment – Introducing the ‘Bestman’, Hannibal Muhtar
There’s much more than ‘heavy metal’ going on in GCP’s approach to capacity building: GCP invests not only in lab and field infrastructure, the ‘heavy artillery’ if you like, but also on field ‘generals, ‘archers’ and ‘foot soldiers’, by training research station managers, technicians and staff…
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Episode 1 – A nuts-and-bolts approach to local capacity empowerment – Infrastructure and training
GCP’s Xavier Delannay talks about the benefits being enjoyed by researchers and local communities in sub-Saharan Africa, thanks to GCP investments in field and lab infrastructure, equipment, and related support services. The story begins in 2010–2011, when a consultant, Hannibal Muhtar, was...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme is a nonprofit global agricultural research partnership promoting modern crop breeding for food security
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CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme's Podcast currently has 34 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
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The CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme is a nonprofit global agricultural research partnership promoting modern crop breeding for food security
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