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People
> Natural Resources research group

Barbara Adolph

Principal researcher, Natural Resources

Barbara works on smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on agricultural innovation, agricultural knowledge systems and understanding and managing trade-offs and synergies between food security and environmental objectives.
Full biography
Expertise

Experienced agricultural research and innovation specialist. Barbara has worked with and advised government agencies, research organisations, civil society organisations and donors in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia including the: Asian Development Bank (ADB), Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA); CGIAR; Uk government Foreign, Department for International Development/Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO); Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS); Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ); International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC); and World Food Programme (WFP).

She has managed interdisciplinary research teams, including a major UK Research and Innovation grant under the Global Challenges Research Fund programme, involving over 50 researchers from five countries. She has also led teams of consultants, including for several major projects / assignments on sustainable agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.

Barbara has experience working in sub-Saharan Africa (Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe), Central and South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan), and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia).

Before IIED

Senior consultant in Triple Line Consulting Ltd; senior scientist at the Natural Resources Institute; research fellow at the University of Hohenheim, Germany and ICRISAT, India.

Education

MBA, Open University, UK; PhD, Hohenheim University, Germany; MSc Geography, University of Bonn, Germany.

Current work

Exploring trade-offs between economic (food security, employment, income) and environmental objectives in sustainable intensification of agriculture at household, community and national level – see SITAM and Sentinel projects for details. 

Interviews

IIED expert interviews: Barbara Adolph
Barbara Adolph's picture
Telephone: 
+44 (0) 20 3463 7399
Email: 
barbara.adolph@iied.org
Google Scholar
ORCID
 
Languages: English, German (fluent), French (fluent), Spanish (intermediate), Hindi (basic), Bahasa Indonesia (basic)

Barbara Adolph's projects

View of a field and a farm.

Towards planet and people-positive agriculture in East Africa

Project, Nov 2020
A conservation agriculture demonstration at the Golden Valley Agricultural Research Trust, Zambia. Conservation agriculture can increase productivity and improve soil structure (Photo: Barbara Adolph/IIED)

Social and environmental trade-offs in African agriculture

Project, Aug 2017
A woman using homemade compost in her garden in eastern Burkina Faso

Trade-offs in sustainable intensification

Project, Aug 2013
Agricultural biodiversity in a Peruvian market. Photo: Bioversity International/A. Camacho

Building resilient food systems

Project, Aug 2013
Farmer stands in her field of groundnuts boarded by maize in Malawi

Democratising food and agricultural research

Project, Aug 2012

Latest publications

Scenarios of agricultural development in Ghana produced during the Sentinel Participatory Scenario Development workshop Accra, Ghana, 4-6 July 2018

Unpicking the socioecological drivers and impacts of agricultural expansion in Ethiopia

Agricultural expansion in Zambia: what are the drivers and implications?

Agri-food systems that work for people and planet: challenges and opportunities from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda

Trade-offs in sustainable intensification: Malawi country report

Trade-offs in sustainable intensification: Malawi country report

View more publications by this author

 

Barbara Adolph's blog posts

Maize cultivation along the Kafue river in Kitwe, Zambia. Water levels in the river have decreased because of deforestation in the river’s catchment area (Photo: Barbara Adolph/IIED)

Food, ecosystems, equality – can we have it all?

Blog, Dec 2017
A young rice farmer at Sélingué, Mali. A new report urges governments and development agencies to develop context-specific strategies and support systems for agricultural advisory services that meet the needs of local farmers (Photo: Mike Goldwater)

Growing rice needs more than soil and water

Blog, Sep 2016
A farmer near Bagré dam in Burkina Faso dries paddy rice (Photo: Barbara Adolph/IIED)

Seven papers unpick debates on African agriculture and rural development

Blog, Oct 2014
Farmers and extension workers jointly assessing an okra field in Balkh Province, Northern Afghanistan

Agricultural Research for Development: Are we moving in the right direction?

Blog, Nov 2012
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50 years linking local to global

Find out more about IIED’s plans in our 50th birthday year: our achievements and what comes next…

IIED's mission is to build a fairer, more sustainable world, using evidence, action and influence in partnership with others. We link local priorities and global challenges, and our 2019-2024 strategy details how we will Make Change Happen

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