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I am a 23 year old girl. I am a holder of Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture obtained at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in 2013, I am also a holder of Bachelors of Science Honours Degree obtained at the University of Cape Town in November 2014. Currently I am a Masters student Majoring in Agronomy at the University of Pretoria. My current research work is about improving the livelihoods of people and smallholder farmers especially looking at a higher level of agricultural policies being downscaled to women smallholder farmers through crop and climate modeling application in agronomy. The focus of my research enhance decision making at farm level through crop and climate modeling as an applied scientific research in agronomy. Climate change is an issue my research addresses since agriculture is affected by it, hence using the crop modeling technique provides solutions like how women farmers can adapt to climate change or what agronomic practices should they adopt for high crop productivity considering the variable climatic conditions.
Recently I was awarded an AWARD fellows programme for top women scientists available on http://www.awardfellowships.org/myaward-home, hosted by AGRA, WORLD AGROFORESTLY CENTRE, AGROPOLIS, BILL and MELINDA GATE FOUNDATION. AWARD is a career-development program that equips top women agricultural scientists across sub-Saharan Africa to accelerate agricultural gains by strengthening their research and leadership skills, through tailored fellowships. AWARD is a catalyst for innovations with high potential to contribute to the prosperity and well-being of African smallholder farmers, most of whom are women. I also won as a MasterCard Foundation scholar (organization based in Toronto). The research for my Bsc programme focused on assessing the variability of yield of Maize in response to climate change using DSSAT model. During my Bsc Honours my research focused on  assessing whether the women small holder farmers' existing strategies meet long-term goals of adapting to climate change or short-term coping needs. For my Masters Degree research, I will look into assessing the cost-benefits of farming technologies in closing the yield gap (maize and legume crops) using crop modelling techniques.
I am a member of American Society of Agrononmy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America, YPARD, OWSD (Italy), CommonWealth Youth Programme (UK).
I wish to learn more from your platform and contribute on issues affecting women smallholder famers and find ways through which agriculture can be improved to ensure people are food secured globally. I am so passionate about how young people, empowerment, gender, climate change can be integrated into agricultural research to solve food security problems.