Agriculture is the backbone of Malawi’s economy, providing employment and food and nutrition security. But smallholder farmers face many challenges including climate change, pest and diseases, droughts, and deforestation. Efforts to support smallholder agriculture are therefore relevant to mitigate the potential effects of those challenges.
Against this background, the Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS) together with the European Union (EU) in Malawi and the eight CGIAR centers[1] in Malawi launched the “Development Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture” (DeSIRA) initiative at a July 22 virtual event. Part of a wider EU project, this five-year agricultural research project targets 10 districts in Malawi and will complement the EU-funded Kulima and Afikepo projects.
Through DeSIRA, DARS, the CGIAR centers and two EU based research institutions[2] will develop and disseminate multi-disciplinary and integrated technologies, appropriate for agri-food systems in Malawi.
The key components of DeSIRA are:
- Identification and development of new technologies that can improve smallholder farming systems in Malawi.
- Understanding the opportunities and constraints for farmers to apply the new technologies.
- Informing policy makers and other partners about the potential of the technologies that are developed under the project.
While farmers in Malawi are in general aware of new yield-improving technologies only few adopt these. Within DeSIRA, IFPRI will examine the gap between awareness and adoption of agricultural technologies by (small) farmers. This will also include work on farm risk modeling as well as investigating farmers’ perceptions of the agriculture technologies and practices they are encouraged to use.
Find more details on the DeSIRA project here.
Please stay tuned for regular updates on our research.
[1] International Potato Center (CIP), International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), WorldFish, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
[2] French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and University of Liège
