CARP+ Students Profiles

Oforiwaah Kukuwaa Smith is a Ghanaian and hails from the Central part of Ghana (Dunkwa-On-Offin), an area where Agriculture (fish farming, fruits and crop production) is the main occupation. Oforiwaah enrolled into the University of Cape Coast, Ghana for Bachelor of Science Agriculture programme. Honoured with a Second Class Lower division, Oforiwaah is currently specializing in Post-harvest Technology at the graduate level at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Oforiwaah is so much concerned about how to use technology to mitigate post-harvest losses and nutritional problems faced by many in society. Her interest stems of her experiences in addressing the importance of nutritional value, convenience, safety and shelf life of fruits and foods at the undergraduate and during her National Service at Department of Agricultural Engineering at University of Cape Coast. She is currently a RUFORUM MasterCard Foundation 2018 CARP+ Scholarship beneficiary. Oforiwaah has the passion for establishing an Agro-processing Centre to mainly process and package agricultural produce to prevent postharvest losses in Ghana. She also has a dream to become one of the female Food Science Researchers in the world

Emmanuel Hanyabui (Ghanaian) was born in 1992, and grew up in the Western Region of Ghana, a region where agriculture including fishing and animal husbandry on small scale are the main occupations and sources of income of the community. Emmanuel was enrolled in Bachelor of Science degree program in Agriculture at University of Cape Coast, and graduated with Second Class Honours (Lower Division) with specialization in Soil Science. He is currently a RUFORUM MasterCard Foundation 2018 CARP+ Scholarship beneficiary, pursuing Master of Philosophy in Land Use and Environmental Science at University of Cape Coast (Ghana). Emmanuel has a dream to become a Lecturer and promote research in other to know the health status of our soils and how to remediate the soil for better crop production and enhance food security to reduce poverty and also help solve food shortage

Rose Njeri Kamau is a Msc. Student at University of Nairobi. She holds a Bsc. Agriculture general and currently pursuing a Msc. in crop protection in University of Nairobi. She is an extension Officer under Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Kenya. Having served as a Crop Officer for 16 years in five sub Counties within four Counties, she understands quite well the challenges that need to be addressed if Kenya has to make a difference in food security and if small scale farmers have to make a meaningful living out of subsistence farming. Among the greatest challenge is pests and disease infestation. Globally farmers’ lose upto 40% to pests and diseases infestation and the loss are even higher in developing countries due to farmers’ limited knowledge on plant health issues, control options that may not be readily affordable and accessible. Unlike agronomy plant health is highly dynamic and the farmers have to consult continually. She served as a plant doctor, Nakuru North District, from 2010 after which she rose to the position of assistance national coordinator in charge of implementation of plant clinics in Kenya by 2013.  She was responsible of training extension officers on how to do good diagnosis and give farmers good recommendation. Having worked in 14 Counties by 2017, she gained a wealth of experience on challenges the farmers go through in pests/disease management. Among them are increased pests resistance to pesticides, pests re-emergence and emergence of new pests/diseases all which threaten food security and farmers livelihood. This motivated me to acquire more knowledge on pest management without compromising human, food and environmental safety. My project area is effective management of whiteflies in cassava which will provide affordable and accessible options with an aim to increase productivity for farmers living in marginal areas in Kenya