News Details

Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) will from 16th to 18th October 2018 host an international Conference on Sustainable Agricultural and Natural Resource Management under Changing Climate in Sub Saharan Africa in Lilongwe with the aim of sharing and documenting results obtained from Capacity Building for Managing Climate Change in Malawi (CABMACC) which LUANAR) is implementing in collaboration with the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). The CABMACC programme is funded by the Norwegian Government. According to LUANAR Programmes Coordinator, Associate Professor Andy Safalaoh, CABMACC’s overall goal is to improve livelihoods and food security through innovative responses and enhanced capacity of adaptation to climate change. He said the programme aims to strengthen the teaching, training, research, technology development and outreach activities for climate change adaptation and mitigation planning. He said that the programme is implemented in five districts of Rumphi, Mzimba, Nkhotakota, Dedza, Balaka and Phalombe that are considered hot spots for climate change-related vulnerability. “There is a need to document and synthesize the results obtained during this program, and to identify and share the major findings, which could also be the basis of recommendations and policy-driven documents,” said Dr. Safalaoh. Dr Safalaoh went on to say that there is a need to review the existing information and any recent, relevant results obtained in other programs/projects, in order to start new programs on a sound footing. One of the conference collaborators and organisers is Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania, which will launch a new program in spring 2018 titled ’Program for Smallholders’ Utilization of Smart Technologies in Agricultural Industry and Natural Resources (SUSTAIN)’. Topics to be covered during the conference include: Climate Smart Agriculture with emphasis on Integrated Soil fertility Management (ISFM) and Conservation Agriculture (CA), and transformative climate change; Sustainable Crop/Livestock/Aquaculture/Fish Production; Soil and Water Conservation for Drought Management; Potential of soil carbon sequestration in crop-livestock/aquaculture systems; Sustainable Natural Resource Management; Value addition options for smallholder market access and integration; Upscaling innovative technologies on smallholder farms and Policies, and; Institutions for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource. More details about the conference are available on the LUANAR website.