The Big Data team strengthens relationships with Africa

The objective of the exchange program is to bring together the research areas in the countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and to place the members of the teams in a locality different from their own, for a length of time varying from 1 to 6 months. In his experience, Dorado visited CIAT regional offices in Nairobi, Kenya, for two months, and there he started working with the soils team and other researchers in information processing and analysis who were conducting surveys of the type carried out in Uganda and Tanzania. “I worked with Chris Mwungu, an economist on the Africa team, to organize the data bases and to strengthen the information with case studies in beans, rice, wheat, maize, and other crops. This was my initial work,” said Dorado. Hugo also worked on carrying out a meta-analysis that consisted of the study of information compiled from on-line publications and FAO databases concerning soil characteristics, fertilization, and climate of some crops. “It is difficult to say good-bye when it has been such a marvelous experience – all the fellow workers are very kind, they work together as a team, and they are enormously professional in their work,” added Dorado. One of the outcomes of this work is a case study that made it possible to analyze the changes in crop yields and the estimated quantity of fertilization that can be done in order to optimize the yields. Hugo Dorado and his Big Data team will continue at the vanguard by consolidating the team with the training of different colleagues so that they may be regional ambassadors and can apply data analysis to various projects. Eventually, they will be writing a scientific article using the results obtained.