Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Title
Please provide a name for your action learning plan.
Agricultural Mechanization
Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
BIG BET
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is that despite Malawi being an agro-based economy, mechanization of the sector is very limited which to a larger extent inhibits growth of the sector, particularly in crop production.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
Agriculture is the main driver of the economy of Malawi, contributing 22.6% of the country’s GDP and accounting for over 60% of total export earnings in 2021. Agriculture also remains the main contributor to food and nutrition security in the country. The sector accounted for 76.4 percent of total employment in 2019. Although Agriculture is the backbone of the economy, it remains one sector with low inclusion of technology to improve efficiency in prioritised value chains particularly production. Majority of farmers still use the hoe as a primary tool for land cultivation.
This is due to lack of innovation in the sector, particularly leveraging on locally driven technologies, limited policy implementation in supporting adoption of new technologies and limited business models for Agricultural commercialisation.
This has led to stagnation of the economy and slow recovery of farmers from natural disasters.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
The review of the 2016 National Agriculture Policy places agriculture mechanisation as one of the priority areas for the next 5 years from 2024.
Pillar 1 of the Malawi 2063 vision is Agriculture Productivity and Commercialisation. The first 10-year implementation plan of this national development blueprint indicates several prioritised national interventions for this pillar which include, adoption of technologies.
The National Research Agenda 2023 also places Agriculture Mechanisation as a key focus area for research and development.
https://npc.mw/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/MIP-1-WEb-Version-8-November-2021-Fast-view.pdf
https://npc.mw/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Revised-NATIONAL-RESEARCH-AGENDA-200323-final-document-for-electronic-sharing.pdf
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Mentions of its prioritization in social media, development meetings and events as well as the President's State of the National Address (SONA) 2023 quoted below:
It goes without saying that we cannot transform our economy without revitalizing our primary sector of Agriculture, and this must go beyond social protection programmes like AIP [Agricultural Inputs Programme]. What we are pushing for is Agricultural mechanisation, commercialisation and Industrialization.
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
This is a key area for the country's development and AccLab is well placed to provide the platform for diverse stakeholder engagement to draw out interests, pool resources and knowledge for action.
The new R&D function imbedded in the Lab propels our Accelerator Lab to explore the challenge in depth and identify new areas for the CO investment/intervention.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
The Accelerator Lab is exploring Malawi's capacity to develop technologies for improving efficiency in crop production for local farmers, who still rely on the archaic hoe for cultivation, to help the country grow its economy.
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) & Department of Innovation and Creativity in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC)
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Ministry of Agriculture will guide on areas for technology inclusion and prioritisation, engagement of farmers, farmer groups, cooperatives to assess interest in proposed technologies.
Department of Innovation and Creativity in OPC will broker AccLab relationship with players in public sector that support the formative work, consultative process and champion the project.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
FAO
What sector does our partner belong to?
United Nations
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
FAO will support in desk reviews that will guide development of in-depth research for collection of additional data on the challenge.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) & Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR)
What sector does our partner belong to?
Academia
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
MUBAS: Through the University Innovation Pod (UNIPOD) provide the platform for refining, small-scale manufacturing of identified innovations.
LUANAR: provide expertise in innovation refinement and collect data on innovation adoption by farmers.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
Mwapata Research Institute (MRI) and Press Trust
What sector does our partner belong to?
Civil Society
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Press Trust will provide linkages with private sector companies that can support upscaling of innovations.
MRI will provide policy review expertise and linkages with domain experts.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
Does Malawi have the capacity to develop technologies for Agricultural crop production?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Sense, Explore
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Minimal Viable product (MVP): This will give insights into ready-made market ready solutions that could be used for crop production.
System Thinking: This will help in understanding crop production interest area as part of the whole agriculture system.
Solutions Mapping: Will be used to collect locally made technologies and analyse common themes for prioritization.
Reverse engineering: This will facilitate identification of a low-cost technology(ies) from a patent database that could be used in Malawi.
(Community)Asset Mapping: This will be used to understand existing initiatives at community level that are working to facilitate introduction of technology for crop production.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
These sources will be used together to triangulate information collected individually so that any anticipated gaps are addressed. Also, these sources will validate existing data on technologies for crop production so that the new/validated data is used to advocate for stakeholder action.
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
The government: Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Creativity and Innovation in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC)
FAO
END OF ACTION LEARNING PLAN: Thank you! The form saves automatically and your submission has been recorded. You may now exit this window.
1No poverty
2Zero hunger
8Decent work and economic growth
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