Dr NJIRA Keston
About Dr NJIRA Keston
Dr Keston Njira is an Associate Professor in Soil Microbiology in the Crop and Soil Sciences Department (CSSD) at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in Malawi. He obtained his PhD in 2016 from Sokoine University Agriculture (Tanzania). The areas of emphasis for his PhD studies were on soil microbial ecology and Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM), and wrote his thesis on exploiting biological nitrogen fixation and mycorrhizal activities in pigeon pea and cowpea, and in legume-maize short rotations. He also holds an MSc (Soil Science) and a BSc (Biology) from the University of Malawi. Currently, he teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate courses including Soil Microbiology, Soil Biology & Biochemistry, Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM), Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Soils & Chemical pollution. He is currently Deputy Head of Department and his tasks include coordination of departmental postgraduate studies. He has been Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-PI in a number of research projects. Examples of key research projects include NCST funded research projects on microbial consortia-based biofertilisers where he has been PI. He is also PI of a research project on biochar-based soil organic amendments, and he was Deputy Coordinator of the Malawi Agroecology Hub (2018 to 2024) (browse his orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7195-8310) (google scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MBsbJkIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao)
Research Interest for: Dr NJIRA Keston
Agroecology and sustainable agriculture
Evaluating effects of agroecological practices on soil health and crop productivity
Integrated soil fertility management (ISFM)
Evaluating effects of ISFM on both yield and crop quality, including aspects of agronomic fortification
Biological nitrogen fixation
Dr Njira conducts research and has published on biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in legumes such as pigeon pea, soybean, groundnuts, cowpea and bambara nuts. This involves evaluating BNF and legume-based cropping systems contribution to soil fertility improvement and crop productivity
Microbial consortia-based biofertilizers
Research under this topic includes isolation of different microbial strains with potential of solubilizing phosphorus, potassium and zinc and also, isolation of both symbiotic and free living nitrogen fixers. The aim is to come up with effective biofertilizers/inoculants that can contribute to balanced plant nutrition with implications on crop yields and quality
Biochar-based soil amendments
This research is aimed at developing different biochar-based products that can help to sustainably improve soil health. This includes testing different different feedstocks/crop residues combinations, and quenching them with other organic materials to enhance their quality