GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY AND DEFENSE QUARTERLY
WHAT WE DO
The Center of Excellence for Global Food Security and Defense (CEGFSD) funds teaching, research, extension, and integrated projects designed to supply the country with a globally educated workforce. The CEGFSD addresses critical needs in global food security and defense and fosters international partnerships that:
• Strengthen agricultural development in developing countries.
• Engage international researchers in addressing new and emerging pests and diseases in animals and plants.
• Engage in agricultural disaster recovery.
• Increase the supply of a globally trained workforce in Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences (FANH) across the 1890 universities.
CEGFSD relies heavily on its international and domestic partners to achieve these broad goals. The CEGFSD’s partners include the nineteen 1890 landgrant universities, the 1890 Universities Foundation, and many international public and private sector partners. The Center is one of six centers of excellence at 1890 universities identified in the U.S. Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. The Center is supported with funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The University of Maryland Eastern Shore hosts the Center, bringing together all nineteen 1890 universities.
THE CENTERS PARTNERS
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
Dear CEGFSD
Stakeholders,
We are delighted to share with you another edition of the CEGFSD newsletter, providing highlights of activities implemented by Center partners. While the present time is challenging within the international development space as policy shifts in Washington, D.C., the Center has a clear direction in its mission with both domestic and international dimensions. Therefore, we remain focused on delivering meaningful and impactful outcomes.
With this said, we are pleased to share some outcomes from the initial work carried out by the Center since its inception. The newsletter also shares the results of work focused on issues such as disaster preparedness and adaptation to extreme weather phenomena. This newsletter features work on food security and addresses potential cross-border pests. During this time of change, we remain steadfast on mission delivery with the goal of supporting a thriving and secure global food system.
– Moses T. Kairo, Ph.D., DIC
Latin America
and Caribbean
Belize
Colombia
Costa Rica
Dominica
Guatemala
Guyana
Honduras
Jamaica
WHERE WE WORK
West Africa
Côte d’Ivoire
Ghana
Liberia
Gambia
Senegal
East Africa
D.R. of Congo
Kenya
Rwanda
Tanzania
Uganda
IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ENGAGEMENT
CEIED Impact Assessment Summit Synopsis
The Center of Excellence for International Engagement and Development (CEIED) impact assessment summit occurred in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 12-14, 2024. The event brought together food and nutritional security experts, Center partners, and stakeholders to discuss the impact of the CEIED projects, learn from the evaluators’ findings, and help guide the development of the strategic direction for the Center’s current and future activities.
The summit goal was twofold: address global food security challenges using bold ideas with global partners and evaluate the activities carried out by the CEIED in the last four years.
The evaluation of CEIED projects informed the Center’s Directors of the CEIED accomplishments. It provided the path forward for managing and sustaining the Center of Excellence for Global Food Security and Defense. The 12 CEIED projects were evaluated based on specific indicators, including:
• Increasing the supply of globally trained degree recipients in the FANRHS disciplines by innovatively integrating a study abroad/study at home learning, discovery, and engagement curriculum into the 1890 undergraduate and graduate educational experience.
• Strengthening of collaborative and integrative multidisciplinary, multi institutional, research and extension activities involving 1890 institutions and international partners that address global food and nutritional security challenges.
CEIED: Impact Assessment participants pose for a picture.
• Developing a robust infrastructure that will leverage the collective 1890 human and cyber capital and partnerships to support the growth and delivery of the Center’s international programming.
Rethinking Global Food Security Challenges – A Keynote Address
The CEIED summit featured Dr. Sunday Ekesi, deputy director general at the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), as keynote speaker. His address was titled, “Rethinking Global Food Security Challenges – Collaborative Research and Partnership Opportunities for U.S. and African Universities.”
Ekesi discussed global development challenges impacting agriculture and agri-food systems, scientific innovations for impactful solutions as well as the significance of international partnerships.
Ekesi concluded his remarks as follows:
• “The sustainability of agriculture and agri-food systems depends on how soon we humans realize that agriculture takes place in the environment and that a destroyed environment does not work for agriculture — Human footprint on nature (the Anthropocene). So let us not eat away our future.”
• “We stand better chances at effecting positive changes if we boost the resilience of (local residents as) agents of the change they need and aspire to — with disruptive technologies that do not disrupt the environment. Hence, food is a way of life, not just a means for living.”
• “Convergent interventions to develop transformative technologies and innovations through capacity building are needed to tackle convergent disruptors. So collaboration and partnerships between U.S. and African universities and institutions are needed.”
Arkansas
Training the Next Generation of Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences (FANH) Workforce — Students’ Perceptive
The CEIED summit featured students’ involvement with the Center during the summit plenary session led by the Center’s Advisory Council member, Dr. Julie Shortridge. Increasing the supply of a globally trained workforce in FANH across the 1890 universities being one of the Center’s broad goals, students actively participated in the summit through the presentation of their international experiential learning activities, the summit’s problem-solving showcases and the identification of the pillars of a dynamic action plan for the Center.
Among students’ recommendations for the Center’s path forward were issues related to the duration of funds allocated to its operations, new course development and students’ incentivization to participate in international education activities. According to student feedback, international programs funded for a longer period (at least
Student panelist/presenters, from left, are Miniya Miller, Fort Valley State University; Antyana Cowan, Kentucky State University; Maia Payne, Tennessee State University; Hannah Knuckles, University of Arkansas Pine Bluff; Erasmus Kabu Aduteye, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Nicolas Amoah, North Carolina A&T State University; Havilland Ford, University of
Pine Bluff. Not pictured is Elizabeth Acquah, North Carolina A&T State University.
Pictured is Dr. Sunday Ekesi, deputy director general at the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Kenya/CEGFSD Advisory Council member.
three years) would adequately improve workforce development. These include internships, student academies on global issues, post-doc research, etc. In addition, students recommended the development of new curricula — such as certificates in global security, international agriculture, etc. — and enhancing existing curricula by infusing global dimensions and integrating teaching, research and extension.
Most 1890 university students would forgo summer jobs to participate in long-term international internships provided they receive a stipend as a motivation for full participation in these global workforce training opportunities.
Key Elements of the CEIED Impact Assessment
According to the evaluator, the benefits derived from the current CEGFSD and the initial CEIED are as follows.
The CEGFSD has gained significant insights into potential strategies required to maximize its impact via a two-step process:
• Step 1: Identifying the transformative opportunity for effective globalization impacts through lessons learned and codified as products of the evaluative process. These represent the essential ingredients for success in CEGFSD’s efforts to transform global food security and defense using strategic partnerships.
• Step 2: Build opportunity structures as successenhancing systems that more fully leverage expertise across 1890 land-grant universities to foster international partnerships that address the CEIED recommendations and proposed actions related to structure and content dimensions.
The CEIED evaluation, however, as a structured, empirical analysis of the project performance/ effectiveness to inform Center decision-making has provided:
• Lessons learned comprehensively span multiple domains and dimensions for the design of the intervention to model development and dissemination.
• Recommendations and potential actions as strategies to enhance the Center’s structure and content dimensions.
• PIs’ output ratings of the overall extent to which the implemented activities attained the project’s desired outputs on a scale of 1-5, where 1=not at all and 5=a great deal. Education’s average rating was 4.5 (a moderate amount); Research’s was 4.9 (a great deal).
• PIs’ outcomes ratings of the extent to which the implemented activities attained the project’s desired outcomes on a scale of 1-5, where 1=not at all and 5=a great deal. Education’s average rating was 4.8 (moderate); Research’s rating was 4.1 (moderate).
• Sustainability plans signal interest in continuing work in global food security, for which recommendations and potential actions were offered.
• Students encapsulating comments indicated, “This project helped to sensitize students and faculty about opportunities in FANRHS nationally and internationally and created training opportunities to position students to be competitive for career path entry in these areas.” Finally, “thank you for the wonderful job you are doing to support projects such as this. We are grateful.”
• Global partners who reportedly benefitted from and contributed to the initial engagement/involvement among the collaborative team. Notably, there is the potential to build on and leverage the opportunities for future and distinctly 1890 Global Food capacitybuilding initiatives in this global community. ///
PRAIRIE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT PRESENTS RESEARCH AT THE 2024 DISASTER PREPAREDNESS AND MITIGATION CONFERENCE
The fourth annual Disaster, Preparedness, Response, Innovation, Mitigation, Recovery (PRIMR) conference was hosted Feb. 26-28, 2024, by the USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness, Texas A&M University, Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) and the Bush School of Government and Public Service. The conference brought together voices from academia, other stakeholders and international partners, and provided a platform to share ideas, approaches, best practices, and new innovations and solve problems.
Gianna Sorola, a senior Animal and Food Science College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) undergraduate researcher at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), presented a poster titled,
“An Assessment of Technology Adaptation by Farmers in Jamaica.” The project is a collaboration with Dr. Derrick Deslandes of the College of Agriculture, Science, and Education (CASE) in Portland, Jamaica.
The project’s overall goal is to enhance resiliency to agricultural disasters in Jamaica. Conducted under the Caribbean cluster of the 1890 Center of Excellence for Global Food Security and Defense (CEGFSD), an anticipated project outcome is to increase a globally educated agricultural workforce. Therefore, these cluster projects aim to expose undergraduate students to research opportunities.
Since graduating in May 2024, Sorola is pursuing her master’s degree in natural resources and environmental science at the CAFNR within PVAMU. She has learned to work independently and be more analytical as an undergraduate researcher. She has also participated in conferences and professional meetings.
“Working under Dr. Estwick has opened my eyes to many possibilities I could not have imagined,” Sorola said. “He has pushed me to be a better student and become more active in the university, as well as pushing myself beyond my imagination.”
The other 1890 institutions with active projects in the Caribbean cluster are Langston University, Kentucky State University and Central State University. PVAMU is the cluster’s lead institution. The PVAMU project team comprises Dr. Noel M. Estwick, PI; Dr. Peter Ampim; and Dr. Sharon McWhinney. The team has conducted focus groups and in-depth interviews in Jamaica as part of the research process to gain insight into the use of technology in agricultural practices and gain producers’ perceptions of the utility of farm disaster management plans.
USDA-NIFA funds the project through the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and the 1890 Universities CEGFSD. ///
Dr. Noel Estwick, left, stands with Gianna Sorola.
THE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY AND DEFENSE’S EAST AFRICA REGION STRENGTHENS FOOD SECURITY PARTNERSHIPS IN KENYA
In July, Dr. Caleb Nindo, professor and director of the Graduate Program at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, traveled with a team from three 1890 universities to Kenya and discussed collaborations on projects supported by the Center of Excellence for Global Food Security and Defense (CEGFSD).
Since its creation in 2020, the CEGFSD has worked to address food security and defense challenges encountered in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. In addition to supplying the U.S. with a globally educated workforce, the Center addresses critical needs in global food security and defense, including strengthening agricultural development in developing countries, addressing new and emerging pests and diseases, and agricultural disaster recovery.
Nindo was joined by Dr. Pamela Moore of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) and Dr. James Obuya of Southern University (SU). Their visit included stops at Kenyatta University, Egerton University, South Eastern Kenya University in Kitui County, Maseno University, and Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO).
Nindo and other CEGFSD representatives visited Kenyatta University and met with professor Caroline Thoruwa, deputy vice-chancellor of research, innovation and outreach.
“Among the institutions that we visited, Egerton University, South Eastern Kenya University and KALRO expressed their willingness to strengthen the relationship with the Center and UMES, including the signing of memorandums of understanding for longterm sustainable engagements,” Nindo said. ///
Dr. Caleb Nindo of UMES (center) and other CEGFSD representatives visited Kenyatta University and met with professor Caroline Thoruwa, fourth from left, deputy vice-chancellor of research, innovation and outreach.
The CEGFSD team interacts with a widows’ group at Agribina Micheni Farm in Tharaka Nithi County. The Nthima Self-Help Group is grafting fruit trees and seedlings for sale after receiving training from university partners.
CEGFSD STAFF
Director Moses T. Kairo, Ph.D. DIC Professor and Dean
Associate Director Stephan Tubene, Ph.D. Professor and Chair
Contact us: email: cegfsd@umes.edu Trigg Hall, Suite 1122
University Blvd. S. Princess Anne, Md. 21853 ph: 410-651-6740 www.umes.edu/sans/ncoe/cegfsd/
Assistant Director Maricelle Saullo, MBA, M.Ed.
Program Coordinator Carlos Cruz, BA
This work is supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Centers of Excellence at 1890 Institutions. CEIED Award 2020-38427-31514 and CEGFSD Award 2021-38427-34838.
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The CEGFSD Newsletter is published by the Office of Agricultural Communications. agcomm@umes.edu | 410-651-6084