A Growing Partnership<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nZambia has a nascent extension system, but it is not very efficient with just one agent for every 1,500 farmers. During the visit to NC State, Shepande learned of a cost-effective way to make the network more viable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is one recommendation that we can go the digital way using E-extension whereby extension officers equipped with tablets or phones can communicate with their farmers,\u201d he said. \u201cThat will help to improve the interaction between extension officers and farmers on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shepande also received recommendations on drip irrigation capacity to combat drought and detailed soil mapping to inform fertilizer recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m quite impressed. We have learned quite a lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two nations also are turning to NC State for assistance in transitioning farmers from a tobacco-based economy to a more diverse agricultural system. Brandenburg is coming out of retirement to lead the effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat resonates with us because we did the same thing over the last 30 years, going from tobacco-based to where we now have the third most diverse agriculture in the United States,\u201d he said. \u201cWe're looking for ways to take NC State's experience of transitioning from tobacco and share our expertise in crops, soils and climate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The initial conversations took place five years ago, but were put on hold during Covid restrictions. The project received an infusion of oxygen when NC State officially entered into the agreement with the two countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brandenburg expects to take several groups of NC State researchers, Extension experts and students to Malawi over the next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have almost 40 faculty at NC State who have said they want to work on the project,\u201d Brandenburg said. \u201cWe have a really broad spectrum of expertise. I am going to Malawi with a small team of about six to eight faculty the first full week of September to meet with Readwell and his colleagues from the Ministry of Agriculture and from various universities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another goal of the partnership is to receive reciprocal visits from faculty and students in Malawi and Zambia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hope that we'll see faculty exchanges going both directions, that we'll be able to train some of their students, and some of our students will be able to spend time there so we can develop collaborative research programs that address global issues with agriculture,\u201d Brandenburg said. \u201cThe overarching goal is for this to be a real partnership of substance, that this is a long-term commitment where we really can focus on addressing what their problems are.\u201d<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Representatives from Malawi and Zambia visited NC State in late July to formalize an agreement that includes help to establish and improve their own extension systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3519,"featured_media":990714,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"views\/single-immersive.blade.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-immersive-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"backgroundColor\":\"green_400\",\"caption\":\"Geoff Bock, director of operations for the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative at NC State, explains how the cutting-edge research conducted in the building benefits farmers throughout the state. Photos by Becky Kirkland\",\"displayCategoryID\":1170,\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1170,1181],"tags":[1264],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"coauthors":[2292],"class_list":["post-990670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-extension","category-newswire","tag-nc-state-extension"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":1170,"name":"Extension","slug":"extension","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1170,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":617,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990670"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3519"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=990670"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":990742,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990670\/revisions\/990742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/990714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=990670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=990670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=990670"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=990670"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=990670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}