INFORMATION
ONLINE REGISTRATION
IMPORTANT DATES
Programme
At A Glance
| Sunday, 20 May 2012 | |
| 08:00 - 17:00 | Pre-Conference Event
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| Monday, 21 May 2012 | |
| 07:30 - 17:00 | Onsite Registration |
| 09:00 - 10:00 | Session 1 - Welcome and Opening
Welcome Remarks
Official Opening
Keynote Address 1
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| 10:00 - 10:30 | Tea Break and Tour of Exhibitions |
| 10:30-12:30 | Session 2 - Mobile Phone, Internet-Based Technologies and Agriculture
Chairperson: Mr. Gracian Chimwaza, Executive Director, ITOCA, Centurion, South Africa
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| 12:30 - 14:00 | Lunch Break and Tour of Exhibitions |
| 14:00 - 16:00 | Session 3 – ICT Adoption and Information Delivery
Chairperson: Krishan Bheenick – Senior Programme Coordinator: Knowledge Management, CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
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| 16:00 - 16:30 | Tea/Coffee Break and End of Day 1 |
| 16:15 - 17:15 | Side Event - IAALD Africa Chapter General Assembly (IAALD Members Only) |
| Tuesday, 22 May 2012 | |
| 07:30 - 17:00 | Onsite Registration |
| 08:30 - 09:00 | Keynote Address 2
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| 09:00 - 10:00 | Session 4 – ICT Supported Information Systems
Chairperson: Joel Sam, Director, Institute for Scientific and Technological Information, Accra, Ghana
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| 10:00 - 10:30 | Tea Break and Tour of Exhibitions |
| 10:30-12:30 | Session 5 - Improving Access to Information (the Results of Agricultural Research)
Chairperson: Chandrabose Sembhoo - Extension Officer, Agricultural Information Unit, Agricultural Research and Extension Unit, Food and Agricultural Research Council, Reduit, Mauritius.
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| 12:30 - 14:00 | Lunch Break and Tour of Exhibitions |
| 14:00 - 16:00 | Session 6 – Social Media, Agriculture and Rural Development
Chairperson: Dady Demby – Programme Officer, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Accra, Ghana
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| 16:00 - 16:30 | Tea/Coffee Break and End of Day 2 |
| 19:00 - 22:00 | Gala Dinner and ARDYIS YoBloCo Awards |
| Wednesdya, 23 May 2012 | |
| 07:30 - 09:00 | Onsite Registration |
| 08:30 - 09:00 | Keynote Address 3
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| 09:00 - 10:00 | Session 7 – Capacity Development Initiatives
Chairperson: Blessing Chataira – Head, Continuing Education & Professional Development (CEPD), ITOCA, Centurion, South Africa.
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| 10:00 - 10:30 | Tea Break and Tour of Exhibitions |
| 10:30-12:00 | Session 8 – Panel Discussion on: e-Agriculture in Africa: Prospects, Challenges and Lessons Learned
Moderator
Panellists
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| 12:00 - 12:30 | Session 9 - Africa Network for Information Technology and Agriculture (ANITA)
Chairperson: Krishan Bheenick – Senior Programme Coordinator: Knowledge Management, CTA, The Netherlands
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| 12:30 - 13:00 | Session 10 - Closing Session
Chairperson: Gracian Chimwaza, Executive Director, ITOCA, Centurion, South Africa. Closing Address
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| 13:00 - 14:00 | Closing Lunch |
| 14:00 - 17:00 | Post Conference Parallel Events
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Speakers Profiles
 R. J. Armour, PhD South Africa | R. Jack Armour currently works as operations manager for Free State Agriculture, a provincial affiliate of AgriSA, serving the commercial farmers of South Africa. The main portfolio he manages is agricultural transformation, land reform and black economic empowerment, necessitating innovative ideas to transform the post apartheid white dominated agricultural sector whilst protecting the constitutional rights of the commercial farming sector and at the same time maintaining food security. The aim of presenting at this forum is to present a concept that will hopefully guide applications development to make the concept a reality to improve livelihoods and food security in Africa. He holds a PhD, Agriculture and Natural Resource Economics, University of the Free State. |
 Sharbendu Banerjee India | Sharbendu is the Director Business Development-South Asia of CABI South Asia-India. CABI is a not-for-profit science-based development and information organization, head quartered in UK (www.cabi.org). Sharbendu is leading the Knowledge Management theme of CABI in South Asia, His special interest is application of mobile technology for agriculture knowledge and information management. He has been into various Business Development assignments in corporate as well as development sectors for last 19 years. He is a Certified Prince II Project Management Practitioner, Six Sigma Green Belt and Certified Siebel CRM developer. |
 Chandrabose Sembhoo Maurtitius | Chandrabose has a Post Graduate degree in Garden Design with a B.Sc. Hons Degree in Horticulture. He is Extension Officer, employed since year 2004 by the Agricultural Research and Extension Unit of the Food and Agricultural Research Council, a parastatal organization under the aegis of the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security. Previously he was in charge of field support to farmers, but posted since year 2010 at the Information Unit where he is involved in information, communication and knowledge management. Main activities involve the editing and production of technical materials both for in-house and for external stakeholders. These materials can be in print or digital format and in different packages depending on the audience targeted, for example – prints, videos, interactive multimedia and use of cell phone technology. Recent projects underway to modernize information dissemination to farmers include the setting of a media studio and an online pest and disease diagnosis system. He has been active in the region, especially in the SADC network of information managers and has participated as well as contributed in several projects regarding information management. He co-authored a paper on the use of RSS for Information Dissemination for IAALD 13th Congress held in Montpellier. |
 Dr. Khin Mar Cho USA | Dr. Khin Mar Cho currently serves as Extension Specialist in International Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Education at Cornell University Cooperative Extension in New York City. She works on food industry direct marketing MarketMaker program and on nutrition and health program. Dr. Cho has over 15 years of experience in working on sustainable agriculture and food systems with government agencies, universities, and nonprofits at national and international levels. Dr. Cho received her Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Justus-Liebig University of Giessen in Germany, M.S. and B.S. degrees in Agronomy from Yezin Agricultural University in Myanmar. Dr. Cho has conducted various post-doctoral researches in the areas of agricultural extension organization, community nutrition education, and green community economic development. She recently conducted USAID research on modernizing extension and advisory services in Ethiopia, Rwanda and Bangladesh. Dr. Cho has published five scientific books and over 50 international publications. |
 Dady Demby Ghana | Dady Demby is Programme Officer for Regional Agricultural Information and Learning Systems (RAILS) within NSF2. His main tasks include supporting the creation of an African platform for exchange of best practices and success stories, providing assistance in coordinating stakeholder meetings to explore ways to use existing agricultural information within NARS, and implementing open and distance learning. His responsibilities include building information and communication management communities and networks of information specialists. Before joining FARA in 2007, he worked for 10 years with CORAF/WECARD as Information and Communication Manager and led the establishment of a network of agricultural information specialists in CORAF/WECARD member countries. He holds Master of Advanced Studies in Information and Communication Sciences and a Professional Degree in Information and Library Sciences from the University Jean Moulin in Lyon, France. Since 2006, Mr Demby has been the Vice-President of the African Chapter of the International Association of the Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD-Africa). Mr Demby hails from the Republic of Congo. |
 Ms. Nodumo Dlamini Uganda | Nodumo Dhlamini holds a BSc (Computer Science and Mathematics) degree and an MBA from the University of Swaziland and Africa University respectively. She is currently involved in capacity building initiatives for the RUFORUM network focusing on the development of e-learning content design and implementation of ICT & e-learning policies, implementation of the regional MSc in Agricultural Information & Communication Management, application of ICTs in agriculture and the development of sustainable infrastructure for information sharing for agricultural research and education in Africa. She is particularly interested in the application of ICTs towards value addition, making a difference and solving real challenges faced by organizations, communities and individuals. She has a passion for supporting women to be proficient ICT users, ICT Technicians and ICT Professionals. |
 Ms. Nawsheen Hosenally Mauritius | Nawsheen Hosenally holds a BSc (Hons) Agriculture degree with specialization in Agricultural Extension from the University of Mauritius. Presently working as consultant and facilitator on Agriculture and Youth related projects, she is passionate about Web 2.0 tools and likes to experiment and apply these tools in her work and daily activities. She enjoys blogging on agriculture and this passion enabled her to win the First Prize of the Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition (YoBloCo Awards) by The Technical Centre of Agriculture and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA). She also loves volunteering and has been involved in several youth leadership organizations, where she has got the opportunity to lead teams and coordinate development projects. She is the Young Professionals in Local Development (YPLD) country representative for Mauritius and believes in making a change for a sustainable future by contributing in every single way she can. |
 Dr. Babalola Tajudeen Isiaka Nigeria | Dr. Babalola Tajudeen Isiaka has a Ph.D degree in Agricultural Communication from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. He is a lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Education, School of Vocational and Technical Education, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Otto/Ijanikin-Lagos. Nigeria. His research areas include development communication, production of documentaries of agricultural practices, environmental communication and participatory video techniques. |
 Darlington Kahilu Zambia | Darlington is an agricultural information officer/programme producer in the department of National Agricultural Information Services (NAIS), a portfolio he has held for 20 years. He is responsible for providing agricultural extension services to farmers through agricultural radio and television programmes. He is also the Content Manager in the ICTs project in the Department. As Content Manager, he analyses, process, re-packages, and translates information products into easily understood and useable formats for farmers; coordinates creation and sharing of information within NAIS and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector; processes feedback, question and answer interactive features of the project. He has a passion for photography and in 2010, he emerged as a grand prize winner of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) “People’s Choice” Photo competition. He also has a passion for sharing agricultural content, stories and pictures using social media tools. |
 Dr. Andrew Kaniki South Africa | Dr. Andrew M. Kaniki is Executive Director: Knowledge Fields Development (KFD), National Research Foundation (NRF) South Africa. The Directorate is responsible for funding research proposals in all fields through various funding programmes. It also facilitates the strengthening of knowledge fields. Before joining the NRF in November 2002, he was lecturer and Professor of Information Studies (1992-2002); and Pro Vice Chancellor and Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), (2000 and 2002) University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu Natal). He taught at University of Zambia, and worked as Science Information Specialist, Engineering and Science Library at Carnegie Mellon University, USA. He holds a BA, (Politics and Library Science, Unza, 1979); was Fulbright Scholar and obtained MS in 1981 U. Ill) and holds PhD and Agricultural Information Specialist Certificate (U. Pitt, 1989). Has supervised 14 doctoral and 13 masters’ theses; has published in information seeking behaviour and knowledge management, has attended and presented papers at several national and international conferences. He is a member of LIASA (1998- ); and IAALD (1986 - ). He served on the Standing Committee of the Section on Education and Training of IFLA, 1997-2001. He is past-President (2003-2005) of the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA). |
 Oliver Kirui Kenya | Oliver Kirui is a Research Associate in the socioeconomics program (SEP) in the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, Nairobi, Kenya. He earned his MSc. in Agricultural and Applied Economics from University of Nairobi with specializations in international agricultural trade and agricultural policy analysis. His current research focuses on the Sustainable intensification of Maize and legume cropping systems in Eastern and Southern Africa and the role of m-banking in agricultural commercialization rural development. Oliver has in the past worked as a consultant with Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support Systems (ReSAKSS) at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi Kenya. He has also worked as Research Assistant at the electronic Agricultural Research Network in Africa (eARN) in Kenya. |
 Ken Lohento The Netherlands | Ken Lohento, a national of Benin, is ICT4D Programme Coordinator at the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation ACP-EU (CTA). For about 15 years, he collaborated in various capacities on ICT uses and policies for development, with organizations such as the Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA) in Senegal, UNESCO (France), Oridev Association (Benin) and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Among other activities at CTA, he manages the ARDYIS project which focuses on youth and ICTs. He holds a master of research in information sciences. [LinkledIn Profile]. |
Ms. Nada Siddig Abdalla Musa Sudan | Nada has been working at the Agricultural Research Corporation for about 7 years and specialises in computer hardware and software maintenance and computer networks. Her research interests include websites and databases design and management and applications of ICT in agriculture. Current research work includes the development of micro-controller-based intelligent solar power pack. |
 Prof. Seishi Nonomiya Japan | Professor Nonomiya works at the Institute of Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo in Japan. His fields of study and specialization are Biometrics, Applied Statistics, Applied Genetics and Agro-Informatics. Before joining the University of Tokyo, he worked as Research Manager at the National Agricultural Research Center, National Agriculture Research Organization. He is the present Chairperson of Section VII: Information Technology of the International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (CIGR). From 2008 to 2010 he was the President of the AFITA- Asian Federation of Information Technology in Agriculture. Prof. Seishi has more than 200 publications/papers some of which can be accessed at Main Scientific Publications |
 Dr. Stephen Rudgard Italy | Stephen Rudgard heads a global team which works on programmes aimed at strengthening capacities of institutions and individuals in developing countries to manage and share information, and which facilitates several global partnerships in information/knowledge in agricultural development. He joined FAO in 2000 after ten years at CAB International (CABI) as a Director in its Information for Development Programme. He has a PhD in Plant Pathology and worked for 10 years on cocoa disease management before moving into agricultural information. |
 Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schiefer Germany | Gerhard Schiefer is Professor and Director of the International Center for Food Chain and Network Research (foodnetcenter) at University of Bonn and Director of the associated International Center for Management, Communication, and Research (CentMa). He holds a MSc in Agricultural Economics and a PhD in Economics. He has had several international research engagements at many international universities including Stanford University, Harvard Business School, and University of Florida (courtesy professor). He is the founding president of the ‘European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment (EFITA)’, initiator and acting coordinator of the ‘International Network for IT in Agriculture (INFITA)’ with international member organizations FAO, IAALD, CIGR, AFITA, EFITA, and PanAFITA; initiator and editor of Intern. J. on Food System Dynamics; member of editorial boards of a number of international journals; organization of the multi-disciplinary annual 'International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks'; chair of work group ‘Food Chain Management’ of the European Technology Platform ‘Food for Life’; coordinator and partner in a multitude of European projects with a focus on management, quality, sustainability, information, communication, and information technology issues in food chains; member of EAAE, IFAMA, EFITA, and OR societies. |
Bartholomew Sullivan Tanzania | Bartholomew Sullivan works as Farm Radio International's Radio & ICT Specialist. Based in Arusha Tanzania, Bart works with radio stations throughout Africa to train broadcasters and innovative new technology solutions that can enhance power of radio to serve rural listeners. Combining his academic background in computer science and rural extension studies, Bart uses these converging domains help build upon a tried and tested development communication technology in Africa – radio. |
 Elvis Paul Nfor Tangem Burkina Faso | Elvis Paul Nfor TANGEM is a professional in the SMEs and SMFES development, market based conservation and Forest /Agriculture value chains development Expert. An Ecologist with a with an eye for business and entrepreneural development.Currently, Elvis Paul serves as Value Chains Development Manager for TREE AID in West Africa and is the Focal Person for FAO – PROFOR Forest Connect in Burkina Faso. Formerly, he worked as Technical Adviser for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s project in Central Africa and took part and headed various conservation and Agriculture value chain development and rural development projects in Cameroon, Central and West Africa for National and Intenrational organisations . He has also worked on projects in Scotland, England and Greece. Holds a Mphil in Forest Ecology and Management from the University of Edinburgh, Bsc/ Postgrade in Geographie- Aménagement et Environnement and Management et Marketing from University of Dschang Cameroon and various diplomas and certificate. Elvis Paul is a member Profesional and Social bodies, including Junior Chamber International where he is a SENATOR. In his free time, Elvis Paul likes cooking, socialising, Nature watching, reading, writing and blogging. |
Mrs. Esperance Zassou Country | Currently a PhD Student in rural economy and development at Liège University (ULg), Gembloux Agro Bio-Tech in Belgium. Her thesis analyses the role of rural radios and videos on local rice processing learning and impact on rural livelihoods and markets in Benin. She is a scientist in OFIAB-IOFR, an NGO working on the promotion of gender in rural areas and on the improvement of rural women access to agricultural information and knowledge. She has carried out a number of researches on processes to enhance local innovations, system linkages and scaling up of collaborative learning through video and rural radio. Others researches concern local rice processing, comparative analysis of rice quality with traditional, intermediate and improved parboiling technologies and consumer valuation of improved rice parboiling technologies. In 2010 she won three important awards: (1) Best paper award, Africa Rice Congress, 22-26 March 2010, Bamako, Mali; (2) Most promising young scientist award, Africa Rice Congress, 22-26 March 2010, Bamako, Mali; (3) Third place trophy for the African Women Competition in Science 2009-2010, 5th African Agriculture Science Week & FARA General Assembly, 19-24 July 2010, Ouagadougou, Burkina-Faso. |