Current Research Projects

The Political Economy of Tobacco Farming in Low and Middle-Income Countries.

Funding Organisation: National Institute of Health (NIH), United States Govt

Duration: 5 Years (2017-2022)

Countries Involved: Malawi, Zambia, Kenya and Indonesia

Implementers: American Cancer Society (Grant Holder)
- Centre for Agricultural Research and Development [MALAWI]
- University of Zambia, School of Medicine [Zambia]
- International Institute for Legislative Affairs [Kenya]
- SurveyMETER [Indonesia]

Colaborators: McGill University [Canada]; University of Ottawa [Canada].

Objectives: Using the field of political economy as the overarching approach to the research and the corresponding training and dissemination efforts, the project has three specific aims:
-To develop a rigorous theoretical and empirical framework that helps to elucidate the livelihoods of tobacco farmers in LMICs.
- Using individual-level economic surveys of nationally-representative samples of tobacco farmers in four major tobacco-growing countries and focus group discussions with farmers to establish empirically the landscape of these livelihoods in order to inform relevant public health and agro-economic policies.
- To grow capacity in four LMICs at the nexus of agro-economic and public health policies .

Investigators: Dr. Donald Makoka, Research Fellow, CARD

Improving the Enabling Environment for Fertilizer Markets in Africa: An Institutional Collaborative Approach to Value Chain Development.

Funding Organisation: Michigan State University Alliance for African Partnership

Duration: 2 Years (2017-2018)

Countries Involved: Malawi, Zambia, Kenya and Indonesia

Implementers: Michigan State University
- the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership
- the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ReNAPRI)
- the New Markets Lab, and the International Fertilizer Development Center.

Colaborators: McGill University [Canada]; University of Ottawa [Canada].

Objectives: To understand the fertilizer supply chain in Africa, including an assessment of the enabling environment through analysis of policies and regulations.

Investigators: Mr. Richard Kachule, Research Fellow, CARD

Confronting Energy Poverty: Building an Interdisciplinary Evidence Base, Network, and Capacity for Transformative Change (PIRE).

Funding Organisation: University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)

Duration: 5 Years (2017-2022)

Countries Involved: Malawi

Implementers: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Centre for Agricultural Research and Development (CARD)
- University of Zimbabwe
- Center for Environmental, Technology, and Energy Economics
- RTI International
- Copper belt University, (Zambia)

Objectives: The objective of the project is to foster a path-breaking integrated research, training, and policy outreach program focused on energy poverty in Southern Africa by addressing the questions:
what types of energy poverty interventions offer promising scalable and sustainable social and environmental solutions?

Investigators: Prof. Charles Jumbe, Research Professor, CARD;
Dr. Thabbie Chilongo, Acting Director, CARD.