Ciara Varley, Angharad Johnston, Charles Spillane
The LEG4DEV project welcomed eight postgraduate researchers from Zambian universities to IITA-Zambia to engage in planning for their legume-scaling research and innovation projects
The LEG4DEV project has partnered with Zambian universities to provide financial and scientific support to eight legume-scaling research projects conducted by MSc and PhD researchers based in Zambia. The postgraduate researchers and their academic supervisors are from University of Zambia and Mulungushi University.
In partnership with the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) university network, the LEG4DEV project issued a call to identify ongoing PhD and Masters level research projects (of relevance to legume scaling for development outcomes) underway in universities in Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia. The eight projects selected for LEG4DEV partnership and support in Zambia were selected from 39 expressions of interest received across the four countries.
The eight selected legume-scaling projects that LEG4DEV and Zambian universities will partner on are:
- Phenotypic And Genotypic Characterisation of Agro-Morphological Traits Of Common Bean Germplasm in Zambia (Mulungushi University).
- Understanding and addressing barriers to implementation of policy interventions to advance the adoption and scaling of legume-based agroecological intensification (University of Zambia).
- Genome-wide Association Analysis of Drought Tolerance in the Diversity Panel for Soybean (University of Zambia).
- Decolonizing indigenous and local climate- resilient indigenous legumes crops: a mixed- cropping systems study for integrating legumes into maize and cassava systems in Eastern Zambia (University of Zambia).
- Identification of quantitative trait loci for symbiotic nitrogen fixation in common bean (University of Zambia).
- Greenhouse gas emissions in smallholder maize-legume farming systems in two agroecological zones of Zambia: effect of fertilization, tillage and crop configurations (University of Zambia).
- Identification of Stable Performing Cowpea Mutation-derived Genotypes and Mega Growing environments for Maize-Cowpea intercropping systems across diverse Zambian Climates (University of Zambia).
- Quantitative Trait Loci Analysis for Cooking Time and Mineral Concentration in an Andean Population of Common Bean (University of Zambia).
Following opening words from IITA’s Dr. David Chikoye and Dr. Joseph Mweba, LEG4DEV PI Prof. Charles Spillane provided incoming researchers with an overview of the LEG4DEV project’s mission and aims. After a range of informational and interactive sessions, researchers enjoyed a tour of the IITA-Zambia facilities, research farm, soybean store and cassava processing centre.
A key goal of the partnership is to support the postgraduate researchers and their academic supervisors to generate more impactful outputs, outcomes and impacts arising from legume scaling in Zambia.
The postgraduate students being supported by LEG4DEV in Zambia are: Abigail Lungu, Auckland Kuteya Namubi, Joseph Botha, Kweleka Mwanza, Modreen Chinji, Mwila Mulundu, Natasha Mwansa, Rebecca Thole.
The associated supervisors are Dr. Nchimunya Bbebe, Prof. Thomson Kalinda, Dr. Kelvin Kamfwa, Dr. Bridget Bwalya, Dr. Kelvin Kamfwa, Prof. Mebeelo Mataa and Dr. Kalaluka Munyinda.
Congratulations to the selected postgraduate students and their academic supervisors!