Southern Africa Peanut Value Chain Interventions

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


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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.


Lead Scientist

Dr. Rick L. Brandenburg, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor

More about Brandenburg

Research Collaborators

Afri-Nut

  • Mr. Tim De Borde

Chitedze Agriculture Research Service

  • Dr. Justus Chintu

Community Markets for Conservation

  • Mr. Dale Lewis

Eastern Province Farmer's Cooperative Ltd

  • Mr. Whyston Sakala

Exagris Africa Ltd

  •  Mr. Jim Goodman

IKURU Farmers Cooperative

  • Mr. Gerson Daniel

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics

  • Dr. Tilahun Amede
  • Dr. Sabine Homann - Kee Tui
  • Dr. Kai Mausch
  • Dr. Samuel Njoroge
  • Dr. Patrick Okori
  • Dr. Moses Siambi

Lilongwe University of Agriculture & Natural Resources - Bunda Campus

  • Dr. Trust Donga
  • Dr. Joseph Dzanja
  • Dr. Wellam Kamthunzi
  • Dr. Agnes Mbach Mwangwela

Mozambique Institute of Agricultural Research

  • Dr. Amade Muitia

North Carolina State University

Twin and Twin Trading Ltd

  • Mr. Andrew Emmott

University of Florida

University of Georgia

  • Dr. Koushik Adhikari
  • Dr. Timothy Brenneman
  • Dr. Manjeet Chinnan
  • Dr. C. Michael Deom
  • Dr. Wojciech Florkowski
  • Dr. Jonathan Williams

University of Zambia

  • Dr. Alice Mweetwa
  • Dr. John Shindano

Valid Nutrition

  • Mr. Andrew Mtewa

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Zambia Agriculture Research Institute

  • Dr. Kennedy Kanenga
  • Mr. Lutangu Makweti

Partner Institution

North Carolina State University Logo

Research Locations

Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia

Duration

June 30, 2014 - July 31, 2017

Award No.

AID-ECG-A-00-07-0001

Sub-Award Amount

$1,135,901