Erika Styger
Attending Weeks 1 & 2
Erika Styger is a Professor of Practice in tropical agronomy and the Director of the Climate-Resilient Farming Systems Program in the Department of Global Development at Cornell.
Erika’s work focuses on the global scaling up of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a climate-resilient agronomic method, which combines to improve rice productivity, while at the same time regenerate soils, reduce agro-chemical use, and save water by 50% leading to reduced methane emissions. She is technical lead for the RICOWAS project, to scale-up SRI in 13 West African countries.
Erika has 30 years of experience in the design, implementation, and adaptation of research and development projects, and in developing agro-ecological approaches and practices in various ecozones across Africa, with a focus on agroforestry, combating land degradation, agro-biodiversity conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity through integrated crop and soil management approaches.
Other than Cornell, she has worked for the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; the US consulting firms Chemonics Inc., Development Alternatives Inc., and Abt Associates Inc., for the international NGOs Africare, Catholic Relief Services and the Millennium Development Goal Alliance, as well as for the World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, (FAO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).