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Thomas Daum
Senior Lecturer
School of Global StudiesAbout Thomas Daum
I am an associate professor (docent) at the School of Global Studies. My work focuses on sustainable agricultural transformation and natural resource management in Africa and Asia, with a particular focus on the role of innovations and governance. More recently, I have done work on agricultural mechanization, digital agriculture, pesticide use, and livestock development and on sustainability transitions in African agricultural innovation systems. Another focus is on the use of digital methods to collect better data such as data on time-use and nutrition in rural households, which enables new insights into gender dynamics. Before joining the School of Global Studies I have done my PhD and habilitation at the Chair of Social and Institutional Change in Agricultural Development at the Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute of Agricultural Science in the Tropics of the University of Hohenheim, Germany. I have worked as a consultant for several international organizations including the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMY), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Bank. I am also working as a freelance journalist for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Süddeutsche Zeitung, among others, and I am part of the editorial board of “Welternährung”, a journal of the German “Welthungerhilfe”.
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Silicon Savannah and smallholder farming: How can digitalization contribute to sustainable agricultural transformation in
Africa?
Njuguna E., Thomas Daum, Birner R., Mburu J.
Agricultural Systems - 2025 -
How do coffee farmers engage with digital technologies? A capabilities
perspective
F Hidalgo, A Birkenberg, Thomas Daum, C Bosch, X F Quiñones‑Ruiz
Agriculture and Human Values - 2024 -
Financing Climate-Smart Agriculture: a case study from the Indo-Gangetic
Plains
R. Villalba, G. Joshi, Thomas Daum, T. Venus
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change - 2024 -
Levelling the field: A review of the ICT revolution and agricultural extension in the Global
South
Rashid Parvez Khan, Saurabh Gupta, Thomas Daum, Regina Birner, Claudia Ringler
Journal of International Development - 2024 -
Towards inclusive mechanization? Two-wheel tractor-based service markets in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and
Zimbabwe
Rabe Yahaya, Thomas Daum, Ephrem Tadesse, Walter Mupangwa, Albert Barro, Dorcas Matangi, Michael Misiko, Frédéric Baudron, Bisrat Getnet Awoke, Sylvanus Odjo, Daouda Sanogo, Rahel Assefa, Abrham Kassa
Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies - 2024 -
Made in Africa – How to make local agricultural machinery manufacturing
thrive
Thomas Daum, Ygué Patrice Adegbola, Geoffrey Kamau, Alpha Oumar Kergna, Christogonus Daudu, Wahab Akeem Adebowale, Carine Adegbola, Charles Bett, Wellington Mulinge, Roch Cedrique Zossou, Abdoulaye Nientao, Oliver Kirui, Fatunbi Abiodun Oluwole
Journal of International Development - 2024 -
Entering the Digital Research Age: Investigating the Effectiveness of Visual Digital Tools in Agricultural
Research
Laura Kawerau, Athena Birkenberg, Thomas Daum, Cosmas Alfred Butele, Regina Birner
Field Methods - 2024 -
Unpacking the behavioral intentions of ‘emergent farmers’ towards mechanized conservation agriculture in
Zambia
Godfrey Omulo, Thomas Daum, Karlheinz Köller, Regina Birner
Land Use Policy - 2024 -
Nutrition-sensitive lockdowns: Conceptual framework and empirical insights from Africa during
COVID-19
Thomas Daum, Hans Konrad Biesalski, Nikola Blaschke, Christine Bosch, Denise Güttler, Jakob Heni, Juliet Kariuki, Roseline Katusiime, Anna Seidel, Zinsou Narcisse Senon, George Woode, Regina Birner
Development Policy Review - 2023 -
The Farming Question: Intergenerational Linkages, Gender and Youth Aspirations in Rural
Zambia
Oluwafemi Ogunjimi, Thomas Daum, Juliet Kariuki
Rural Sociology - 2023 -
Mechanization and sustainable agri-food system transformation in the Global South. A
review
Thomas Daum
Agronomy for Sustainable Development - 2023 -
Digitalization, sustainability, and coffee. Opportunities and challenges for agricultural
development
Francisco Hidalgo, Xiomara F. Quiñones-Ruiz, Athena Birkenberg, Thomas Daum, Christine Bosch, Patrick Hirsch, Regina Birner
Agricultural Systems - 2023 -
Animal traction, two-wheel tractors, or four-wheel tractors? A best-fit approach to guide farm mechanization in
Africa
Thomas Daum, Anna Seidel, Bisrat G. Awoke, Regina Birner
Experimental Agriculture - 2023 -
Addressing agricultural labour issues is key to biodiversity-smart
farming
Thomas Daum, Frédéric Baudron, Regina Birner, Matin Qaim, Ingo Grass
Biological Conservation - 2023 -
Mechanization, digitalization, and rural youth - Stakeholder perceptions on three mega-topics for agricultural transformation in four African
countries
Thomas Daum, Patrice Ygué Adegbola, Carine Adegbola, Christogonus Daudu, Fadlullah Issa, Geoffrey Kamau, Alpha Oumar Kergna, Lawrence Mose, Yarama Ndirpaya, Oluwole Fatunbi, Roch Zossou, Oliver Kirui, Regina Birner
Global Food Security - 2022 -
Edible weeds and food and nutrition security in the face of the herbicide revolution. A case study from
Zambia
Thomas Daum, Alysha Vehre, Carolin Schweizerhof, Christoph Schunko
International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability - 2022 -
E-diary: a digital tool for strengthening accountability in agricultural
extension
Angella Namyenya, Thomas Daum, Patience B. Rwamigisa, Regina Birner
Information Technology for Development - 2022 -
Are emerging farmers the missing link for mechanised Conservation agriculture? Viewpoints from
Zambia
Godfrey Omulo, Thomas Daum, Karlheinz Köller, Regina Birner
Development in Practice - 2022 -
The forgotten agriculture-nutrition link: farm technologies and human energy
requirements
Thomas Daum, Regina Birner
Food Security - 2022 -
Connected cows and cyber chickens? Stocktaking and case studies of digital livestock tools in Kenya and
India
Thomas Daum, Thanammal Ravichandran, Juliet Kariuki, Mizeck Chagunda, Regina Birner
Agricultural Systems - 2022 -
Comparison of mechanized conservation agriculture and conventional tillage in Zambia: A short-term agronomic and economic
analysis
Godfrey Omulo, Regina Birner, Karlheinz Köller, Simunji Simunji, Thomas Daum
Soil and Tillage Research - 2022 -
Using smartphone app collected data to explore the link between mechanization and intra-household allocation of time in
Zambia
Thomas Daum, Filippo Capezzone, Regina Birner
Agriculture and Human Values - 2021 -
Mechanization along the value
chain
Thomas Daum, Oliver Kirui
From Potentials to Reality: Transforming Africa's Food Production - 2021 -
Who drives the digital revolution in agriculture? A review of supply-side trends, players and
challenges
Regina Birner, Thomas Daum, Carl Pray
Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy - 2021 -
Farm robots: ecological utopia or
dystopia?
Thomas Daum
Trends in Ecology and Evolution - 2021 -
Governance challenges of small-scale gold mining in Ghana: Insights from a process net-map
study
Ferdinand Adu-Baffour, Thomas Daum, Regina Birner
Land Use Policy - 2021 -
Uber for tractors? Opportunities and challenges of digital tools for tractor hire in India and
Nigeria
Thomas Daum, Roberto Villalba, Oluwakayode Anidi, Sharon Masakhwe Mayienga, Saurabh Gupta, Regina Birner
World Development - 2021 -
Who Wants to Farm? Answers Depend on How You Ask: A Case Study on Youth Aspirations in
Kenya
Katie LaRue, Thomas Daum, Kai Mausch, Dave Harris
European Journal of Development Research - 2021 -
‘We would rather die from Covid-19 than from hunger’ - Exploring lockdown stringencies in five African
countries
Regina Birner, Nikola Blaschke, Christine Bosch, Thomas Daum, Sarah Graf, Denise Güttler, Jakob Heni, Juliet Kariuki, Roseline Katusiime, Anna Seidel, Zinsou Narcisse Senon, George Woode
Global Food Security - 2021 -
Of milk and mobiles: Assessing the potential of cellphone applications to reduce cattle milk yield gaps in Africa using a case
study
Christian A. Bateki, Thomas Daum, Ana Salvatierra-Rojas, Joachim Müller, Regina Birner, Uta Dickhoefer
Computers and Electronics in Agriculture - 2021 -
Agricultural mechanization in Africa: Myths, realities and an emerging research
agenda
Thomas Daum, Regina Birner
Global Food Security - 2020 -
Perceived effects of farm tractors in four African countries, highlighted by participatory impact
diagrams
Thomas Daum, Ygué Patrice Adegbola, Geoffrey Kamau, Alpha Oumar Kergna, Christogonus Daudu, Roch Cedrique Zossou, Géraud Fabrice Crinot, Paul Houssou, Lawrence Mose, Yarama Ndirpaya, A. A. Wahab, Oliver Kirui, Fatunbi Abiodun Oluwole
Agronomy for Sustainable Development - 2020 -
Of bulls and bulbs: aspirations, opinions and perceptions of rural adolescents and youth in
Zambia
Thomas Daum
Development in Practice - 2019 -
Times Have Changed: Using a Pictorial Smartphone App to Collect Time–Use Data in Rural
Zambia
Thomas Daum, Hannes Buchwald, Ansgar Gerlicher, Regina Birner
Field Methods - 2019 -
Can small farms benefit from big companies’ initiatives to promote mechanization in Africa? A case study from
Zambia
Ferdinand Adu-Baffour, Thomas Daum, Regina Birner
Food Policy - 2019 -
Smartphone apps as a new method to collect data on smallholder farming systems in the digital age: A case study from
Zambia
Thomas Daum, Hannes Buchwald, Ansgar Gerlicher, Regina Birner
Computers and Electronics in Agriculture - 2018 -
The neglected governance challenges of agricultural mechanisation in Africa – insights from
Ghana
Thomas Daum, Regina Birner
Food Security - 2017