Malawi
AFRICAP in Malawi is co-ordinated by the Civil Society Agriculture Network (CISANET), a policy advocacy organisation working on agriculture and food security issues.
Our social and ecological research across Malawi will provide evidence on the resilience of agri-food systems, with a view to informing debates on relevant national policies or legislation and their implementation.
These include the:
- National Resilience Strategy
- Malawi Growth & Development Strategy III
- National Agricultural Policy and National Agricultural Investment Plan
- Food and Nutrition Bill
- National Climate Change Policy and draft Meteorological Policy
- National Irrigation Plans & Shire Valley Basin Management Plan
- National Social Protection Policy
AFRICAP in Malawi builds on existing research partnerships between the University of Leeds, the Department for Climate Change and Meteorological Services (DCCMS), Lilongwe University of Agriculture & Natural Resources (LUANAR) and Malawi University of Science & Technology (MUST), investigating both Climate-Smart Agriculture interventions and the resilience of agri-food systems to climate shocks such as drought or floods.
Our work will include:
- Running and providing bursaries for African and UK scholars to attend research training courses
- Jointly developing and running applied research projects
- Providing training on research outputs at on-farm sites
- Developing and disseminating research outputs through joint research-policy forums
AFRICAP will maintain the Conservation Agriculture trial site jointly run by the University of Leeds and the Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS) at the Chitedze Research Station, providing support for ongoing field trial studies. These will be expanded to gather data on soils, such as carbon storage and water holding capacity, and ecological impacts, such as crop pests and ecosystem services, and through monitoring of on-farm trial sites.
Specific plans for further research study areas and projects, including the establishment of a Special Agricultural Zone in Malawi, are being developed through a series of stakeholder consultations co-ordinated by CISANET.
