This mission within the FAO funded project on climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in the agricultural sector in Azerbaijan allowed us to have first direct contact with the actors in the field.

The new book “Survey Design,” edited by Associate Professor Miroslava Bavorova, is intended to provide masters and doctoral students, as well as academic staff, with basic principles for designing and conducting quantitative questionnaire surveys.

Niga Abdalla, a PhD candidate from our team, shares her experience of data collection from the survey she conducted between May and June 2021 in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. What were the difficulties and the lessons she learned from her survey? Here she explains:

Irene Franceline Mbouwe, has been recently at CIFOR-ICRAF office in Cameroon carrying out her internship and data collection for her dissertation thesis. Her research analyses the significance of the Shea butter value chain on rural household incomes, household food security and women's empowerment in Cameroon.

The research on the main drivers of food security conducted by PhD student Niga Abdalla in Sulaymaniyah Governorate of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The main aims of the study are to describe the status of food security of households in the study area and to analyse the role of the Public Distribution System on household food security. Furthermore, the study investigates the rural-urban differences and the armed conflict impact on household food security. 

Nepal is known as one of the countries that is severely affected by climate change. Climate change had a massive impact on agricultural sector in Nepal, and hence jeopardized its food security.

Last Spring, our PhD candidate Pius Hiwe went to Oyo State, Nigeria to collect data for his dissertation thesis. His research explores agricultural extension in Nigeria with a focus on farmers’ participation, and satisfaction with extension services. Furthermore, the study also examines job satisfaction of those providing rural advisory and extension services.

Earlier this year, our MSc student Yessika Garcia went to Colombia to collect her data for her maters research. Yessika was investigating the factors affecting the farm succession decision among coffee farmers in the Chaparral region in Colombia.

Bernard Essel, a PhD student from our group recently came back from Ghana where he conducted his research survey. His study seeks to find out the impact of young entrepreneurs' attributes, start-up capitals, start-up motivation, and corporate social responsibility and their effects on the performance of food businesses in Ghana. The study selected 244 young entrepreneurs engaged in food entrepreneurship within three regions / agroecological zones of Ghana. Data were collected using questionnaires in face-to-face interviews between May 2021-July 2021.