Food systems  ·  Sustainability  ·  Public health nutrition

Edinburgh, Scotland

Writing that keeps the evidence attached.

I am Cyprian Kimomo, a food systems researcher. Five years of field agronomy in Kenya taught me how agricultural advice behaves when it meets a real farm. A master's at The University of Edinburgh taught me how to weigh sixty-nine studies against each other and say what they actually support.

My research asks why well-evidenced advice so often fails to reach the farmers and households it is meant for, and I write about it in plain language for readers without a specialist background.

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Portrait of Cyprian Kimomo
Cyprian Kimomo
MSc Food SecurityThe University of Edinburgh, distinction in every taught module
69 studiessynthesised in a meta-analysis covering 640 field comparisons
5 yearsof field agronomy across Kenya's public, private and development sectors
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What I work on

Research and communication

A

Evidence synthesis

Finding, appraising and combining the published evidence on a question, and stating plainly how confident the conclusion is and where the evidence runs out.

  • Systematic search and meta-analysis in R
  • Critical appraisal of field and trial evidence
  • Reviews of agronomic and adoption research
B

Plain-language research writing

Explaining what research shows, and what it does not, for readers who need to understand it without a specialist background.

  • Research summaries for a general audience
  • Analysis grounded in field data
  • Clear statements of uncertainty and limits
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Selected writing

All work
01 The fertiliser gap Africa cannot close with rate alone African governments have spent twenty years chasing a fertiliser target measured in kilograms per hectare. The recommendations farmers actually receive leave out the part that decides whether the nitrogen reaches the crop. Food systems 02 What 640 field comparisons say about two crops on one field Intercropping maize with legumes usually produces more food per hectare than either crop grown alone. A synthesis of sixty-nine sub-Saharan African studies shows how much more, and how unevenly the advantage is spread. Sustainability 03 Hidden hunger is a supply problem before it is a diet problem More than half the world consumes too little of several essential micronutrients. Treating that as a failure of individual choice misreads where the shortfall is created. Public health

Self-initiated long-form writing. None of these has been published by an outlet.

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Recent articles

All articles
01 What a record harvest cannot tell you about hunger In 2020 the world harvested more cereal than ever, and hunger still rose. A harvest counts food grown. Hunger depends on whether people can obtain it. 25 September 02 Africa plans to triple its fertiliser. The bigger promise is hidden. Fertiliser advice is written for whole districts, yet soils change field by field on a single Kenyan farm. What Africa's 2034 promise of targeted advice will demand. 24 September 03 How two humble plants are beating Africa's worst maize pests Push-pull, developed in Kenya, protects maize with a legume between the rows and a grass around the edge. What it achieved on farms, and why it has not spread further. 24 September

First published on LinkedIn and republished here in full.

Get in touch

Interested in the research? I would be glad to hear from you.

cyprian@cypriankimomo.com
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