Southern Africa Peanut Value Chain Interventions

Aflatoxin Management Interventions, Education, and Analysis at Various Steps within the Value Chain

Brandenburg explains value chain approach in southern Africa

PMIL students show off their research plots

From Malawi to Mozambique, Zuza wants to help farmers protect groundnut crop

Working locally, thinking globally for quality peanut butter

Ugandan student researches best drying technique for quality peanuts

Kasakula researches link between oil processing and aflatoxin contamination

Master's student trains peanut flour processors in pursuit of food safety

This project addresses a wide range of production, post-harvest handling, and processing issues relative to peanuts in Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique that can impact aflatoxin contamination levels, yield, and profitability. By studying interventions at different steps in the value chain and the cumulative effect of those efforts, researchers can compare their success against traditional production and marketing practices.

Malawi has a strong history of research on peanut through ICRISAT, the Department of Agriculture Research at Chitedze Research Station, and Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), but farmers still struggle to bountiful crops of high-quality, low-aflatoxin peanuts. Additional agencies such as NASFAM (National Small Farmer Association of Malawi), the Ministry of Agriculture, Exagris, Afri-Nut, TWIN of the U.K., the Clinton Development Initiative and others are all engaged in further evaluation of production, processing, and marketing strategies as well as farmer education. Improved cultivars are available, but the lack of an effective seed program limits availability. High aflatoxin contamination exacerbate the problem by reducing farmers’ incentive to implement current production recommendations and limits commercial processing and marketing.

Building on peanut research and collaboration already in place in Malawi, the project takes a comprehensive approach to problem-solving and effective technology transfer, while working to incorporate research in Zambia and Mozambique to create a regional project providing research data on a wider scale.