Animal Science Faculty

  Alice N. Pell   -   Professor

 

 

 

Email: ap19@cornell.edu

Current Research

In 2006, I became the Director of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD), Cornell's program for poverty alleviation and sustainable rural development for developing countries. As a result, most of my research focuses on tropical farming systems, with an emphasis on Africa. The centerpiece of my research project is an interdisciplinary project on the relationship between poverty and environmental degradation in the densely populated Kenyan highlands. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's Biocomplexity program for Coupled Natural and Human Systems. We have been working with a team of economists, soil scientists and rural sociologists to develop a dynamic bioeconomic model of smallholder crop-livestock systems. Understanding how farmers respond to decreases in soil fertility resulting in reduced crop and animal productivity is an important step in poverty reduction. Our collaborators on this project are the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute and the International Center for Research in Agroforestry. We have been involved in the development of the livestock component of the model and have been exploring the roles of animals in nutrient cycling and maintenance of soil fertility in areas with severe soil degradation.

In addition, I have been involved in the West Africa Water Initiative (Mali, Niger and Ghana) that includes an interdisciplinary approach to improving water quality and the efficiency with which water is used. This project represents a novel collaboration between NGOs, foundations, industrial trade associations, universities and a service club. We also are beginning a project with an important livestock component in Afghanistan. For more details on these projects, see the CIIFAD website (http://ciifad.cornell.edu).