Organization

An ASABE Initiative

The AMAA initiative is organized under the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
Agricultural and biological engineers have played critical roles in transforming the American agri-food system into a global force it is today by developing and deploying technologies and innovations that are critical to keeping the agri-food system productive, resilient, sustainable, and profitable.

ASABE, the leading professional society of agricultural, food and biological engineers, has played a critical role in supporting the profession since its inception in 1907. With members worldwide, ASABE has a long history of working collaboratively with our international partners to address global challenges in agricultural and food systems. Our Global Initiative has led to conferences on global food security, hosted in Stellenbosch, South Africa, and on water security, in Hyderabad, India. The third in this Global Initiative series will focus on renewable energy and will take place in October 2022, in Costa Rica.

The African Network Group of the ASABE (ANGASABE) began a conversation during the 2019 AIM meeting in Boston centered around modernizing African agrifood systems. An ad hoc planning committee was formed to lay the foundation of this initiative, now called the Alliance for Modernizing African Agrifood Systems.

Klein Ileleji
Co-Chair

Purdue University, USA

Ajit Srivastava
Co-Chair
Michigan State University, USA

Margaret Gitau
Vice-Chair
Purdue University, USA

Senorpe Asem-Hiablie
Secretary
Shell Global

Adesoji Adelaja
Chair, Advisory Board
Michigan State University, USA

Kifle Gebremedhin
Chair, Advisory Board
Cornell University, USA

Terry Howell, Jr.
Pillar Lead
University of Nebraska, USA

Kumar Mallikarjunan
Pillar Lead
University of Minnesota, USA

Michael Ngadi
Pillar Lead
McGill University, Canada

Umezuruike Linus Opara
Pillar Lead
Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Advisory Board

Adesoji Adelaja, Michigan State University, USA
Kifle Gebremedhin, Cornell University, USA

Founding Committee

Ajit Srivastava (Co-Lead), Michigan State University, USA
Klein Ileleji (Co-Lead), Purdue University, USA
Margaret Gitau (Co-Lead), Purdue University, USA
Akindele Folarin Alonge, University of Uyo, Nigeria
Daniel Dooyum Uyeh, Kyungpook National University, South Korea
Kifle Gebremedhin, Cornell University, USA
Kumar Mallikarjunan, University of Minnesota, USA
Umezuruike Linus Opara, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Michael Ngadi, McGill University, Canada
Nicholas Kiggundu, Makerere University, Uganda
Noble Banadda (in Memorium), Makerere University, Uganda
Senorpe Hiablie, Shell International Exploration & Production, Inc

Collaborating Organizations

Pan African Society for Agricultural Engineering
CIGR

Regional Hubs

The AMAA will facilitate the establishing a network of MAA Innovation Hubs in the East, West, Central and Southern African regions to:

Conduct a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis
Promote technology and methodology development and innovation grants
Promote business development entrepreneurship investment funding
Capacity building and workforce development (Agricultural Technology Management, Integrated education campaign materials in local languages, Innovation boot camps and farmer field schools etc.)