FANRPAN is a network of organizations in 17 African countries that works to promote effective food and agriculture policies. It facilitated a multi-stakeholder process in Malawi and Zambia to develop research priorities around groundnut value chains. This led to projects assessing technologies to reduce aflatoxin contamination in groundnuts pre- and post-harvest. The projects conducted farmer training, national dialogues, and research on topics like residue incorporation and ridging techniques. FANRPAN continues working to upscale these efforts and pursue additional funding opportunities around sustainable agriculture and food security in Africa.

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FANRPAN USER LED PROCESS
Groundnut value chain in Malawi & Zambia
Presentation by Sharon Alfred
FARA Africa Agriculture Science Week
Kigali, Rwanda
13-16 June 2016

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ABOUT FANRPAN
Vision: A food and nutrition secure Africa free from hunger and poverty
Mission: To promote effective Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) policies by:
•facilitating linkages and multi-stakeholder partnerships between government and civil society;
•building the capacity for policy analysis and policy dialogue in Africa; and
•supporting demand-driven policy research and analysis.
Stakeholder categories:
- Farmers, Government and Policy Makers, Researchers, Private Sector, Media,
Development Partners, Women and Youth
Members/National nodes in 17 African countries:
- Angola, Benin, Botswana, DRC, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius,
Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

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DA
FANRPAN’S ROLE
PAEPARD Phase II: 2009 - 2013
WP 2: Mobilization of African Research and non- Research multi-
stakeholders
• Mapping of African Stakeholders:
- Institutional database :
http://paepard.org/wakka.php?wiki=RegisterInstitution&lang=en
• Consultations on federating themes and priority areas:
- “Groundnut Value Chain focusing on 3 concept areas: Seeds, Markets and Production
• National and regional multi-stakeholder consultations / dialogues
• Case studies: success and failure stories

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PAEPARD Phase II: 4 YR Extension 2014 - 2017
WP 4: Partnerships
User-Led Process (Getting Farmers / Research Users to Lead in the definition of
research priorities and development of proposals
1.Defining federating themes
2.Desk reviews for Zambia and Malawi undertaken in 2013
3.Conduct induction training for Country Facilitators – NASFAM, ACF, SACAU
4.Multi-stakeholder research question development workshops – Lilongwe,
Malawi 24-26 April 2013 attended by over 41 participants
5.Core Group / Technical Advisory Committee – 10 members, 1 annual face to
face meeting and virtual engagement
6.Development of proposals – 6 concept notes / proposals developed to date

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RESULTS TO DATE
Awarded PAEPARD Competitive Research Fund (CRF) grant in 2014
“Stemming Aflatoxin pre- and post-harvest waste in the groundnut value chain (GnVC) in Malawi and
Zambia to improve food and nutrition security in the smallholder farming families”
Food security of smallholders
• Maize and Groundnuts major part of rural diet
• Health of smallholders
• Farm productivity
Trade
• Local and international regulations
• Restricted market access
The challenge is that the groundnuts from smallholder farmers are prone to Aflatoxin contamination.
The contamination can occur any time from pre-harvest to post-harvest and has enormous health and
economic consequence.

6. THE PROJECT BRIEF
Hypothesis:
Investing in pre- and post-harvest loss research, technical advice
and policy advocacy to reduce food losses could significantly increase the food
and nutrition security.
Project Objectives:
1)To assess, validate and further develop promising pre and post harvest
technologies
2)The successfully tested practices are documented, appropriate dissemination
tools and methodologies are elaborated, and farmer capacities are built
3)To advocate for conducive national and regional policies and regulatory
frameworks for stemming Aflatoxin
Partners:

7. HIGHLIGHTS OF PROGRESS TO DATE
o Inception workshop
o Farmer mobilization and
training
o Farmer training materials..
leaflets
o 4 national dialogues, Zambia &
Malawi
o 1 policy brief
o Project website & brochure
o Baseline data collection
o Preliminary research
Inception workshop
1) Evaluation of the effect of residue incorporation on
pre-harvest aflatoxin contamination (2014/2015 season)
2) Evaluation of effect of number of rows per ridge 2014/15
season
3) Evaluation of effect of tie/box ridging and of number of
rows per ridge 2015/2016 season
4)Evaluation of Mandela cork 2014/2015 season
5)Evaluation of kennel sizing and Hand sorting on
partitioning aflatoxin into various shelled groundnut grade
sizes
Areas of Research

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ULP RESULTS TO DATE
•Supplementary grant awarded to FANRPAN by FAO for convening dialogues in Zambia and
Malawi in partnership with the project “Supporting smallholder farmers in southern Africa
to better manage climate-related risks to crop production and postharvest handling”
•The 4 national dialogues conducted in Zambia and Malawi, 2014 and 2015
•Agriculture to Nutrition (ATONU) grant award. PAEPARD provided sponsorship for a
partners’ for partners proposal development meeting
•Diversifying agriculture for balanced nutrition through vegetables in multi-storey cropping
systems, NUTRIHAF funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL)

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ULP RESULTS TO DATE (continued)
•Grant award in progress: Wellcome Trust - Towards a Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable
World Food System: Responding to Emergent Risks and Forging Pathways of Change.
•6 concept notes / proposals prepared and submitted 2013 – 15. 3 funded initiatives

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PROPOSALS SUBMITTED IN 2016:
(i) IFAD Research Grant: Challenges and Opportunities for Rural Youth Employment in
Sub-Saharan Africa: A Mixed-Methods Study to Inform Policy and Programs;
(ii) Youth Researching Youth: Competitive Fellowships for Young African Scholars
Researching Youth Engagement in Rural Economic Activities in Africa

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OPPORTUNITIES IN THE HORIZON
Upscaling and outscaling of the GnVC work:
-climate-related risks to crop production and postharvest handling
-markets and seeds
-Engagement and collaboration with Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa
(PACA), private sector
1.African Union Research Grant Call-II 1st Call for Proposals (2016) for research
actions that seek to address Sustainable Agricultural Intensification, within the
broader theme of Food, Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA).
2.Third Call for proposals from the Food & Business Applied Research Fund (ARF):
deadlines 5 July 2016 + 6 December 2016
3.Relevant EU calls

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SO WHAT ?

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•Multi-stakeholder partnerships are critical for successful
agricultural research interventions
•Improved research uptake as a result of the involvement of
farmer organisations, research users, academia / research, and
policy makers and think tanks

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THANK YOU
Disclaimer:
This project has been funded with the support of the European Union for the International Development
and Cooperation General Directorate (DG-DevCo.) This publication (communication) reflects the views
of only the authors, and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use which may be
made of the information contained therein.