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Sebastian Escobar Parra
Cacao Quality Lab Associate Team Leader
Sebastian Escobar Parra is a fermentation scientist and chocolate R&D specialist with over 16 years of international experience in cacao fermentation, bioprocess development and scaling-up engineering, post-harvest innovation, and analytical flavour science. He has a proven track record of leading million-dollar innovation projects across Latin America and Europe, from concept and lab/pilot-scale bioreactors to industrial applications. He is an…
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Rima Hijazi
Consultant
Rima Hijazi is an Agricultural Engineer and agri-food specialist with extensive experience in SME development, startup incubation, and ecosystem building across Lebanon and the MENA region. She has supported the design and implementation of accelerator strategies, led deal flow and market validation processes, and provided hands-on advisory to agri-food startups to strengthen their operational and financial sustainability.
During her 4 years as Agri-Food Specialist at Berytech,…
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Fredy Monserrate
Postdoctoral Fellow
Fredy is an agronomist and soil health expert with interdisciplinary experience in research-for-development initiatives focused on sustainable and regenerative agriculture. His work integrates soil fertility, integrated nutrient management, agrohydrology, GIS, and data-driven approaches to support evidence-based decision-making in agricultural systems. He has extensive experience co-designing decision support systems (DSS) for soil and water management, linking scientific…
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Nduwimana Innocent
Research Associate
Innocent Nduwimana is an agronomist coordinating the Burundi activities for the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. He is an expert in the management of pests and diseases, as well as seed systems for vegetatively propagated crops. He received training in agronomic sciences, including plant and animal production, ecology and land use, socio-economics, and food technologies, at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Burundi with an MSc in…
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Sonia Gallego Castillo
Senior Research Associate, Agrobiodiversity
Chemical Engineer from Universidad del Valle and M.Sc. in Food Engineering, she currently serves as Senior Research Associate at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, where she coordinates the Nutritional Quality Laboratory (NQL) and the Food Processing Laboratory (FoodLab).
She has extensive experience leading research, innovation, and development projects focused on value addition to legumes, cereals, roots, and tubers. Her…
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El informe EAT-Lancet 2025: ¿Puede la comida salvar nuestro futuro?
Erika Eliana Mosquera Echeverry
El 3 de octubre, EAT ‒una plataforma global con base científica para la transformación del sistema alimentario‒ y The Lancet ‒una de las revistas médicas más importantes del mundo‒ presentarán la Comisión EAT-Lancet 2025. Este informe histórico es una actualización de uno de los estudios sobre sistemas alimentarios…
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Ordeñar tiene su ciencia
Anny I. Yedra Cubillos
Miles de campesinos madrugan todos los días a colectar la leche que les significa su principal fuente de sustento y alimentación para su familia. Muchos de ellos lo hacen de la misma manera por años, con la técnica que les enseñaron sus padres y que siempre les ha funcionado. El nivel de sofisticación de estas técnicas varía mucho de una finca a otra, y por ende…
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Enhancing Climate Information Services for Climate Change Adaptation in Kenya
Tessie Atieno Akoko, Alex Nduah Nderi
Edited by Owen Kimani and Edith Mutui
The initiative 'Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA)' seeks to revolutionize climate information services in Kenya, empowering small-scale farmers with timely and localized climate data to enhance their…
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Juan Jose Gonzalez Guzman
Research Coordinator II
Between 2013 and 2015, Juan Jose Gonzalez Guzman did his undergraduate work in agronomic engineering, which consisted of the evaluation of 15 accessions of wild cherry tomato sown in in-vitro conditions against Fusarium oxysporum causing vascular wilt in tomato, identifying the strain of the pathogen causal agent of the disease using conventional taxonomic keys, Koch's postulates and ITSs molecular markers. In the first semester of 2014, he took the ninth…
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Tessie Atieno Akoko
Senior Research Associate
Tessie Atieno Akoko is a Senior Research Associate at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, specializing in the intersection of economics, data, climate resilience, and climate finance. She is dedicated to the design and implementation of evidence-based frameworks that translate field data into actionable climate solutions and evidence-based policies, particularly for vulnerable communities.
Her expertise spans the full lifecycle of research and project…
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How gene banks safeguard our food security for the future
In a world facing increasingly complex challenges—from climate change and biodiversity loss to growing populations and geopolitical instability—the question of food security has never been more critical. Amidst these challenges, an often-overlooked but vital institution plays a key role in securing our agricultural future: gene banks…
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Piloting Kenya’s nature-based solutions monitoring and evaluation framework: Lessons from Chyulu Hills
Tessie Atieno Akoko
Dorcas Jalango, Brenda Binge, Chris Ngige
MoALD in collaboration with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT under the CGIAR Climate Action Science Program , piloted a national NbS monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework in Kenya's Chyulu Hills to…
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Strengthening the Future: Assessing Resilience Gaps in Kenya’s Drought-Hit Turkana and West Pokot
Tessie Atieno Akoko, Pedro Anglaze Chilambe, Felix Otieno, Chris Miyinzi Mwungu
Brenda Binge, Dorcas Jalango
Researchers from the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and national partner AGNES conducted a 2024 needs assessment in Kenya’s Turkana and West Pokot Counties to…
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Innovar desde la empatía: el poder del diseño centrado en los seres humanos aplicado a la agricultura digital y climáticamente resiliente
Emmanuel Zapata-Caldas
Daniela Arce Gómez
En la agricultura, la verdadera innovación no empieza con la tecnología, sino con las personas. Escuchar, comprender y co-crear con ellas es el punto de partida del diseño centrado en el ser humano (DCH), un enfoque que…
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Langat Kipkorir
Research Associate
Langat Kipkorir is a research associate specialising in sustainable food systems, agroecology, and asset-based community development at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. His core research interests lie in participatory action research, market systems, livelihood analysis, and smallholder empowerment.
Langat’s research-in-development work currently focuses mostly on (1) coordinating multi-stakeholder engagement across landscapes, (2) co-designing and testing…
