Tian Cai

Tian Cai is currently a manager of an agribusiness-related project in the Food and Agriculture Organization and holds a Ph.D. in Media and Information from Michigan State University where her research focused on increasing the social impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on marginalized populations. It specifically focused on how such technologies are harnessed to shape peoples’ perceptions, adoption, and adaptation of new agricultural innovations.

Passionate about using video to provide information to farmers to increase their productivity and profitability, Tian is constantly exploring strategies to design video content and finding ways to bundle video with other information channels, such as mobile phone messages. She believes in the power of farmers’ personal storytelling through the use of video in the concept of co-creation of video content with the community. Through her fieldwork in Malawi and Kenya, Tian has found that these stories can help farmers learn skills and change mindsets which prevent them from lifting themselves out of poverty.