Relevant Organizations & Links:

International Organizations:

African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT): Conservation agriculture for improved livelihoods and a better environment.

Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING):  The overall purpose of Africa RISING is to provide pathways out of hunger and poverty for small holder families through sustainably intensified farming systems that sufficiently improve food, nutrition, and income security, particularly for women and children, and conserve or enhance the natural resource base.

Agroecology and Livelihoods Initiative at the University of Vermont (ALC): ALC’s mission is to co-create evidence and knowledge, with farmers and other actors, to cultivate socially just and ecologically sound food systems.

ECHO East African Impact Center: The ECHO East Africa Impact Center seeks to extend the services of ECHO to help those working with the poor in Africa to be more effective, especially in the area of agriculture. The ECHO East Africa Impact Center functions primarily as a technical support organization helping community development organizations and workers operate more effectively.

Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy.  The overall mission of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy (FSP) is to promote inclusive agrifood system productivity growth, improved nutritional outcomes, and enhanced livelihood resilience through improved policy environments.  twitter: @foodsecuritylab

Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN): Dedicated to a food secure Africa free from hunger and poverty.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Agroecology Hub:  FAOs new online agroecology hub is aimed at maintaining and promoting information and updates on Agroecology, as well as providing a space to share experiences of FAO and our partners in Agroecology.

Guiding Investments in Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in Africa (GISAIA): GISAIA is a grant program to MSU/AFRE from the Gates Foundation Global Development Program intended to improve the incomes and food security status of African farmers and consumers through policies to improve the profitability of cereal crop intensification and contribute to sustainable agricultural productivity growth in Africa. Also see GISAIA Cross-Cutting, GISAIA Malawi, and GISAIA Tanzania.

International Crop Institute Research for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT): ICRISAT’s mission is to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and environmental degradation in the dryland tropics.

n2Africa: N2Africa is a large scale, science-based “research-in-development” project focused on putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers growing legume crops in Africa.

Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL): Farming systems comparisons in the tropics.

The Land Institute: The Land Institute’s work is focused on developing perennial grains, pulses and oilseed bearing plants to be grown in ecologically intensified, diverse crop mixtures known as perennial polycultures. The Institute’s goal is to create an agriculture system that mimics natural systems in order to produce ample food and reduce or eliminate the negative impacts of industrial agriculture.

Tillers International: Tillers International is a multi-faceted 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people in rural areas around the world.

West African Shrub Initiative: Native shrub intercropping – a climate smart innovation to remediate degraded soils and improve food and nutrition security across the Sahel of sub-Saharan Africa.

Malawi Specific Organizations:

Civil Society Agriculture Network (CISANET):  CISANET’s core objectives within the agricultural and food security sector are mostly to do with policy advocacy, networking, and information sharing.

Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM): Fum’s mission is to promote and safeguard the interests of all farmers in Malawi and create a conducive agricultural operating environment for improved agricultural productivity, market access and increased farmer income.

National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM):  NASFAM’s mission is to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Through a sustainable network of smallholder-owned business organisations, NASFAM promotes farming as a business in order to develop the commercial capacity of its members, and delivers programmes which enhance member productivity.

Soils, Food, and Healthy Communities: The Soils, Food and Healthy Communities project is a participatory, farmer-led organization which uses agroecological methods to improve food security and nutrition in Malawi.

Total Land Care: TLC’s mission is to improve the livelihoods and standards of living of smallholder farm households across the [East African] region.

MSU-Based Organizations:

Center for Global Change and Earth Observations (CGCEO): The CGCEO is a Michigan State University Center that fosters interdisciplinary approaches for understanding global change at all scales using the tools of both the social and bio-physical sciences.

MSU Food Security Group: The Food Security Group is a team of faculty members in the Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Department of MSU whose activities focus on issues of food security, food policy, and general agricultural development, primarily in Africa and Southeast Asia.