Bunda Grant Scheme: Announcing the 2019 cohort

IFPRI Malawi is pleased to announce the students selected for this year’s Bunda Grant Scheme (BGS) mentorship program, which offers a group of young master’s students from Bunda College at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) mentorship from IFPRI researchers in order to refine and publish their research.

The 2019/20 BGS recipients and their research topics are as follows:

1. Wyson Maleta: Productivity and technical efficiency analysis of maize production under intercropping and soil cover in Malawi
2. Lemekezani Kingston Chilora: Determinants of children’s nutritional status in Malawi
3. Christopher Chikowi: Modelling consumer choice and demand for wild and Maldeco chambo in Malawi
4. Spencer Ng’oma: Effect of smart subsidies and farmer-to-farmer extension on adoption of conservation agriculture: The case of the Shire River Basin.

Topics and publications from past BGS participants are as follows:

1. Market participation of smallholder common bean producers in Malawi, MaSSP Working Paper 21 (BGS participant Yanjanani Lifeyo, 2017)
2. The impact of a Farmer Business School program on incomes of smallholder farmers: insights from central Malawi, MaSSP Working Paper 23 (BGS participant Joana Chilemba, 2017)
3. The impact of Malawi's farm income diversification programme on household welfare: Empirical evidence from eleven districts, MaSSP Working Paper 20 (BGS participant: Cuthbert Chirwa, 2015)
4. Consumer choice of dry common beans in Malawi: The case of Lilongwe City, MaSSP Working Paper 19 (BGS participant: Marynia Mazunda, 2015)
5. The role of transaction costs in contract farming in smallholder agriculture: Evidence from tobacco contract farming in Kasungu District, MaSSP Working Paper 18 (BGS participant: Abel Shaba, 2014)
6. Household resilience to drought: The case of Salima District in Malawi, MaSSP Working Paper 14 (BGS participant: Taonga Banda, 2014)
7. Does irrigation have an impact on food security and poverty? Evidence from Bwanje Valley Irrigation Scheme in Malawi, MaSSP Working Paper 4 (BGS participant: Rudolf Khata, 2013)
8. Spatial price integration among selected bean markets in Malawi: A threhold autoregressive model approach, MaSSP Working Paper 7 (BGS participant: Wezzie Mtumbuka, 2013)
9. Modeling potential impacts of future climate change in Mzimba District Malawi, 2040-2070, MaSSP Working Paper 8 (BGS participant: Arthur Chibwana Gama, 2013)
10. The determinants and extent of crop diversification among smallholder farmers: A case study of Southern Province, Zambia, MaSSP Working Paper 5 (BGS participant: Kiru Sichoongwe, 2013)