Supporting Malawi’s Agricultural Vision

By Amy Burtch

The story of 10 NC State University faculty traveling to Malawi is a story about relationships. 

“Building relationships is so critical for international programs,” says Rick Brandenburg, a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology.

He has worked on projects in Africa since 1996, with 15 of those years in Malawi specifically concentrating on peanuts. For Malawians, peanuts are an important source of protein and potential income.

For the past eight years, Dominic Reisig, a professor and Extension specialist in Entomology and Plant Pathology, has worked with LUANAR, the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Malawi, focusing on basic peanut agronomy research. 

Both professors saw deep value in their most recent Malawian experience, both for southeast Africa and the U.S. Southeast. 

Malawi Seeks to Increase Agriculture 

In 2020, Malawians published Malawi 2063, a national initiative to improve the country. One pillar of the plan is increasing agriculture, and the Malawi ambassador to the U.S. contacted Brandenburg to assist with this effort. 

“The country was serious about it — they wanted to make agriculture more than subsistence farming,” Brandenburg says. 

Progress on the plan stalled until Malawi Ambassador Esme Chombo visited North Carolina and asked Brandenburg and Jose Cisneros, director of CALS International Programs, to meet with the minister of agriculture and the president of Malawi. 

This audience with the president led to a string of meetings and communications between NC State and Malawi throughout 2022 and 2023.

“We met with everyone. We built relationships and had doors opened to us that had never been opened before,” Brandenburg says. 

Supporting Malawi’s Agricultural Vision 

Fast forward to the fall of 2024 when a group of 10 CALS faculty engaged with Malawian government and university representatives in a discussion of the country’s agricultural goals and vision. 

Brandenburg reports that a two-day workshop helped Malawians to refine their strategies and plans of work. Specifically, the meetings helped Brandenburg identify how he can help farmers grow peanuts.

Peanuts require a lot of inputs — like fertilizer, lime or fungicide — to produce good yields, but in Malawi, farmers lack the resources for many inputs and are risk averse. Therefore, Brandenburg’s goal now is to help farmers create a low-input production system that delivers the best results. 

Reisig can also assist Malawian farmers. Growers have a choice about the technologies they adopt, like a seed variety or insecticide type, and he can help them incorporate technologies that align with their values and culture.

Coming Alongside Malawi 

Since returning from this trip, Brandenburg and the team are seeking funding and donors to support NC State’s efforts with the southern African nation.

Malawi is also committed to securing internal funding, so the country will have “skin in the game,” as Brandenburg puts it, which is not always the case in similar international partnerships. 

Brandenburg noted that other professors involved in the trip are pursuing smaller projects, like Felipe Carvalho da Silva’s focus on cattle production and Luke Gatiboni’s pursuit of soil health. 

“It made me smile when younger faculty asked me if they could write a grant that would only focus on cattle or irrigation,” Brandenburg says.

Although North Carolina is 8,000 miles away, Malawians understand that the state has some similar agricultural challenges as their country. 

“They recognize we have a team assembled here that is willing to come alongside them as they face these challenges and to help them accomplish their vision,” Reisig says. 

He also thinks Malawi sees the strength — and thus benefit — of NC State’s Extension services. While Malawi has extension, it is unfortunately not well-supported. 

“For peanut agronomy, the challenge is getting information to the farmers who need it,” Reisig says. “Through extension, they can learn practices and principles that can save them time and money.” 

Value of International Research 

Brandenburg believes in the value of international research and that understanding a different country’s people and problems makes you a stronger professor.

“Look, I am a farm kid from Indiana. I would never have dreamed I would be sitting in a room with the president of Malawi,” Brandenburg says. 

“I am a huge advocate for NC State’s international programming. Agriculture in North Carolina also benefits through collaboration on research, access to germplasm for breeding programs and insight into tomorrow’s challenges. It is definitely a ‘win’ for everyone.”

Reisig says he also benefited from this experience in many ways. 

“It was neat to see the country through the eyes of experts in other disciplines,” Reisig says. “They saw challenges in the country that perhaps I had not and considered if and how they could be solved.” 

This post was originally published in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences News.