NEWS:

27 May, 2015


Farmer participatory field experiments in Salima district and inset Farmers and researchers undertaking soil assessment at Kambwiri Sele Irrigation scheme in Salima district, Malawi

Over the years, the horticultural sector has been faced with several challenges including those related to post harvest food, economic and nutrition losses. Statistics show that over 85% of smallholder farmers encounter numerous losses after harvesting their loses due to several factors including poor storage, transportation and market facilities. To address some of these challenges, scientists from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in partnership with Self Help Africa (Malawi) are implementing a research project- Improving Post-harvest Technologies for Increased Food Security among Smallholder Farmers in Malawi. The project is funded by Self Help Africa (UK) for EURO 48,000.00 and it is for two years.


The research there focus on addressing food and nutrition security and productivity and specifically addressing challenges associated with post-harvest food loses. The action recognises the need to utilise existing indigenous knowledge in handling and preventing post-harvest food loses and utilising social capital by engaging the private sector and research agents in partnership to better address challenges and constraints that resource-poor communities face in post-harvest food handling, processing and storage. This focus will help to understand the extent to which traditional technologies enhance or reduce post-harvest food losses in general and evaluate new technologies that will promote food and nutrition security among maize and vegetable farmers in Salima. The primary research questions are focused on indigenous/community level knowledge and methods of reducing post-harvest losses that are currently being employed, and how can they be linked with new technologies and scientific findings.


The long-term expected impact of the proposed research project is to contribute towards improved food and livelihoods security and economic empowerment in targeted communities (Salima district). The expected outcome of the project is to achieve increased smallholder skills and knowledge to benefit economically from diversified production and marketing of crops (maize and vegetables) among households. The proposed research project has the following outputs:
• Increased smallholder skills and knowledge to benefit from improved production and storage of maize and vegetables among targeted smallholder farmers
• Increased skills and knowledge and organisational capacity to support enterprise development around maize and vegetables,
• Scalable proven good practice approaches for integrating farmers in agriculture value chains documented, disseminated and demonstrably used to inform policies and improve programmes by Self Help Africa, partners and other development actors.


LUNAR researchers participating in the project are Dr David Mkwambisi, Dr Daniel Sikawa, Ms Jacinta Nyaika and Mrs Sibongile Chimzinga. Research fellows include Lumbani Banda and Emmanuel Likoya.