RIU Malawi set to impact on over 400,000 people
15 June 2010

RIU Malawi has recently reviewed its four commodity- based innovation platforms and has projected that together these will impact on over 400,000 people. The platforms are looking at fish farming, legumes and livestock.

	Scale and type of impact on small-scale farmers	Projected total number people to be impacted based on 5 person households
Fish farming	1700 farmers having access to improved fingerlings	8,500
Legumes	28,000 kg of basic legume seed to be produced by end of 2010, benefiting around 7000 farmers	42,000
Cotton	Demonstration plots will directly impact on 42,000 farmers, increasing their cotton yields from current 800 kg to 1500 kg per hectare	252,000
Livestock	19,600 pig farmers benefiting from improved marketing system and infrastructure	98,000
		Malawi total = 400,500

Director of RIU Ian Maudlin said 'the experiments from the Africa Country Programmes should have a significant impact on food security and agricultural productivity. However, this is only part of the story. We anticipate that the greater return on the investment will come from the learning about how to put research into use at scale. RIU is testing models which could pave the way for different ways of structuring research for development with an enhanced role for the private sector. We will be reporting our findings in detail over the coming months in the learning section our website.'

In total there are over 30 experiments like these which together are set to impact on over 56 million people.