Catherine Nakalembe is an assistant professor in the geographical sciences department at the University of Maryland and head of the Africa section of Nasa’s food and agricultural programme. She was awared the 2020 Africa Food Prize for her work using satellite imagery to help farmers and governments to increase food security. Nakalembe uses satellite data examining agriculture and weather patterns combined with information about the crops gathered on the ground to build a model that can recognise patterns and aid in making predictions. Her model can help to inform decisions regarding irrigation and fertiliser use and can forecast using satellite estimates of rain and temperature which are communicated to the farmers either by local-language texts, radio messages or passed on through agricultural extension workers. Governments can also use her model to help prevent famines in communities by planning for disaster response in case of crop failure or flash flooding. Her early research pr
Africa, Women and Water: a Gender Disparity