University of Malawi

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Dr. Mangani Chilala Katundu

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Dean of Research

Research Areas

Sustainable Livelihoods,Sustainable Livelihoods,Community Nutrition,Food Systems,Food Security,

Profile

Mangani Chilala Katundu, PhD (Food Security) KwaZulu Natal, MSc. Malawi, BEd. (Science) Malawi Mangani Chilala Katundu is the first Dean of Research of the University of Malawi and consequently has been instrumental in putting in place research management and support structures within the University. He established the University of Malawi research Ethics Committee UNIMAREC and the University of Malawi Research Fund (UNIMAREF) which provides start up grants and training for upcoming researchers. He is an Associate Professor of Food Security and Nutrition and has a PhD in Food Security from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He has worked with University of Malawi for the past 21 years. Assoc. Prof. Katundu is the current Chair of the Nutrition Society of Malawi and the also the Technical Working Group on Food and Nutrition Research and Surveilance in Malawi under the Department of Nutrition HIV and AIDS in the ministry of Health. Associate Professor Katundu is also a member of the UK Research and Innovation International Development Peer Review College. His research is characterised by ardent advocacy for sustainable food systems, farmerā€™s rights, biodiversity resource conservation, agroecology and value addition of indigenous and landrace crops. His research focuses on promoting livelihood security, food and nutrition security among small scale farmers through promotion of seed and food sovereignty. Mangani is also passionate about strengthening research capacity of higher education institution and small scale farmer cooperatives through establishment of effective and efficient systems for increased productivity and management of research results. Notably, Mangani has been a principal investigator in a USD 3 million, 5 year, Malawi Farmer to Farmer Agro-ecology project funded by Global Affairs Canada. The project facilitated diversified agroecological farming among 6000 farming households in Central and Northern Malawi. In addition, the project promoted farmer to farmer peer learning, manure making and utilisation for reduced cost of production, nutrition education and improved childcare and feeding practices to reduce malnutrition. It also promoted sustainable livelihoods for economic emancipation and assets building. He popularised the use of landrace orange maize variety (mthikinya), for combating vitamin A deficiency which has been scaled up by government. He also worked with IFPRI in promoting community based childcare centres (CBCCs) as effective entry points for agriculture and nutrition intervention aimed at improving household production diversity, maternal knowledge on child nutrition and feeding practices, and children's diets and anthropometric indicators. Its success informed the programme on Investing in Early years by the Government of Malawi with funding from World Bank. In collaboration with University of Manitoba, Associate Professor Katundu also led a project entitled Farmer led Agroecological Farming aimed at improving dietary diversity and sustainable livelihoods of 1000 rural Households in Dedza and Thyolo through diversified agricultural production, small scale processing of indigenous vegetable and landrace orange maize funded by Open Society initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA)., the project advocated for policies that promote seed sovereignty and the right to food for small scale farmers. With funding from IDRC, Assoc. Prof. Katundu led projects that developed improved smoking kilns and solar tent driers to reduce postharvest losses in small fish processing in Lake Chilwa, Lake Malawi in Malawi and Zambezi river basin in Zambia in Collaboration with University of Zambia, World Fish Departments of Fisheries in Zambia and Malawi. Currently, Assoc. Prof. Katundu is working with International Potato Centre to assess the nutritive value of leaves and tubers of newly released orange fleshed sweet potato varieties. The project will also developing formulations that will be used in home grown school feeding programmes. In addition, he is investigating the acceptability and impact of using a feeding bowl and spoon as tools to improve the dietary quality and quantity in infant and young child feeding with funding form UNICEF. Assoc. Prof Katundu has published widely in high impact journals and has collaborated with various institutions including World Fish, UNICEF, FAO, IFPRI, SAVE the Children, IDRC, OSISA, International Potato Centre (CIP). Ministry of Health in Malawi, University of Manitoba, University of Sydney, University of Pretoria and University of KwaZulu Natal.

Publications

  • Journal Article
    Hunga, H. G., Chiwaula, L., Mulwafu, W., & Katundu, M. (2023). The seed sector development in low-income countries: Lessons from the Malawi seed sector policy process. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, 891116. (2023)
    https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.891116/full
  • Journal Article
    Hunga, H. G., Chiwaula, L., & Katundu, M. (2023). Organizational readiness for policy implementation: An assessment of the harmonized seed regulations in Malawi. Environmental Development, 45, 100828. (2023)
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211464523000283
  • Journal Article
    Hunga, H. G., Chiwaula, L., & Katundu, M. (2023). The role of networks in policy processes in developing countries: The case of harmonized seed regulations in Malawi. World Food Policy. (2023)
    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/wfp2.12053
  • Journal Article
    Katola, A. A., Stark, A. H., Ndolo, V. U., Tembo, D. T., & Katundu, M. C. (2023). Provitamin A retention and sensory acceptability of landrace orange maize (MW5021) food products among school-aged children living in rural Malawi. Food Production, Processing and Nutrition, 5(1), 57. (2023)
    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s43014-023-00174-9
  • Journal Article
    Gelli, A., Kemp, C.G., Margolies A., Twalibu A., Katundu, M., & Levin C. (2022). Economic evaluation of an early childhood development centerā€“based agriculture and nutrition intervention in Malawi. Food Security, 14(1), 67-80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-021-01203-6 (2022)
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-021-01203-6
  • Journal Article
    Chiwaula, L. S., Chirwa, G. C., Simbeye, J., & Katundu, M. (2022). Household resilience among fish value chain actors during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi. World Development Perspectives, 26, 100411. (2022)
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452292922000194
  • Journal Article
    Majamanda, J., Katundu, M., Ndolo, V., & Tembo, D. (2022). A Comparative Study of Physicochemical Attributes of Pigmented Landrace Maize Varieties. Journal of Food Quality, 2022. (2022)
    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1155/2022/6294336
  • Journal Article
    Majamanda, J., Katundu, M., Ndolo, V., & Tembo, D. (2022). Impact of provenance on phytochemical attributes of pigmented landrace maize varieties. Journal of Science and Technology, 14(1), 75-82. (2022)
  • Journal Article
    Katola, A. A., Katundu, M. C., Ndolo, V. U., Tembo, D. T., & Stark, H. A. (2022). Successful reintroduction of landrace orange maize in rural Malawi is not related to the nutritional knowledge of women in farming families. African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, 22(9), 21454-21475. (2022)
  • Journal Article
    Gelli, A., Kemp, C.G., Margolies A., Twalibu A., Katundu, M., & Levin C. (2022). Economic evaluation of an early childhood development centerā€“based agriculture and nutrition intervention in Malawi. Food Security, 14(1), 67-80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-021-01203-6 (2022)
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-021-01203-6
  • Journal Article
    Song, Y., Ndolo, V., Fu, B. X., Ames, N., Katundu, M., & Beta, T. (2021). Effect of processing on bioaccessibility of carotenoids from orange maize products. International Journal of Food Science & Technology, 56(7), 3299-3310. (2021)
  • Journal Article
    Gelli, A., Nguyen, P. H., Santacroce, M., Twalibu, A., Margolies, A., & Katundu, M. (2020). A community-based early childhood development center platform promoting diversified diets and food production increases the mean probability of adequacy of intake of preschoolers in Malawi: a cluster randomized trial. The Journal of Nutrition, 150(2), 350-355. (2020)
  • Journal Article
    Stark, A., Katola, A., Ndolo, V., Tembo, D., & Katundu, M. (2020). P8 Successful Reintroduction of Landrace Orange Maize in Rural Malawi is not Dependent on Understanding Nutritional Advantages. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 52(7), S19. (2020)
  • Conference Papers
    Stark, A., Katola, A., Ndolo, V., Tembo, D., & Katundu, M. (2020). P8 Successful Reintroduction of Landrace Orange Maize in Rural Malawi is not Dependent on Understanding Nutritional Advantages. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 52(7), S19. (2020)
  • Journal Article
    Likongwe, M. C., Kasapila, W., Katundu, M., & Mpeketula, P. (2019). Microbiological quality of traditional and improved kiln smoked catfish (Clarias gariepinus; Pisces; Clariidae) in Lake Chilwa Basin. Food science & nutrition, 7(1), 281-286. (2019)
  • Journal Article
    Xiang, J., Apea-Bah, F. B., Ndolo, V. U., Katundu, M. C., & Beta, T. (2019). Profile of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of finger millet varieties. Food chemistry, 275, 361-368. (2019)
  • Journal Article
    Gelli, A., Margolies, A., Santacroce, M., Roschnik, N., Twalibu, A., Katundu, M., ... & Ruel, M. (2018). Using a community-based early childhood development center as a platform to promote production and consumption diversity increases children's dietary intake and reduces stunting in Malawi: a cluster-randomized trial. The Journal of nutrition, 148(10), 1587-1597. (2018)
  • Journal Article
    Gelli, Aulo, Amy Margolies, Marco Santacroce, Natalie Roschnik, Aisha Twalibu, Mangani Katundu, Helen Moestue, Harold Alderman, and Marie Ruel. "Nutritional Epidemiology." (2018). (2018)
  • Journal Article
    Kangmennaang, J., Kerr, R. B., Lupafya, E., Dakishoni, L., Katundu, M., & Luginaah, I. (2017). Impact of a participatory agroecological development project on household wealth and food security in Malawi. Food Security, 9, 561-576. (2017)
  • Journal Article
    Nyantakyi-Frimpong, H., Kangmennaang, J., Kerr, R. B., Luginaah, I., Dakishoni, L., Lupafya, E., ... & Katundu, M. (2017). Agroecology and healthy food systems in semi-humid tropical Africa: Participatory research with vulnerable farming households in Malawi. Acta tropica, 175, 42-49. (2017)
  • Journal Article
    Banda, J., Katundu, M., Chiwaula, L., Kanyerere, G., Ngochera, M., & Kamtambe, K. (2017). Nutritional, microbial and sensory quality of solar tent dried (Samva Nyengo) and open sun dried Copadichromis virginalis-Utaka (Pisces; Cichlidae). International Journal of Marine Science, 7. (2017)
  • Book Chapters
    Nyantakyi-Frimpong, H., Hickey, C., Lupafya, E., Dakishoni, L., Kerr, R. B., Luginaah, I., & Katundu, M. (2017). A farmer-to-farmer agroecological approach to addressing food security in Malawi. Everyday Experts: How peopleā€™s knowledge can transform the food system, 121. (2017)
  • Journal Article
    Hwang, T., Ndolo, V. U., Katundu, M., Nyirenda, B., Bezner-Kerr, R., Arntfield, S., & Beta, T. (2016). Provitamin A potential of landrace orange maize variety (Zea mays L.) grown in different geographical locations of central Malawi. Food chemistry, 196, 1315-1324. (2016)
  • Journal Article
    Fan, G. J., Ndolo, V. U., Katundu, M., Kerr, R. B., Arntfield, S., & Beta, T. (2016). Comparison of phytochemicals and antioxidant capacity in three bean varieties grown in central Malawi. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, 71, 204-210. (2016)
  • Conference Papers
    Kerr, R. B., Shumba, L., Dakishoni, L., Lupafya, E., Berti, P. R., Classen, L., ... & Katundu, M. (2013). Participatory, agroecological and gender-sensitive approaches to improved nutrition: a case study in Malawi. In FAO Expert Meeting ā€˜Nutrition-Sensitive Food and Agriculture Systems. (2013)
  • Journal Article
    Katundu, M., Hendriks, S., Bower, J., & Siwela, M. (2010). Can sequential harvesting help small holder organic farmers meet consumer expectations for organic potatoes?. Food quality and preference, 21(4), 379-384. (2010)
  • Book Chapters
    Katundu M.G.C, Hendriks S.L., Siwela M and Bower J.P. (2009), Does sequential harvesting affect potato quality and quantity? In: Does food security improve when smallholders access a niche markets? Lessons from Embo Community in South Africa Ed by Hendriks SL and Lyne MC. African Centre for Food Security, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg. P 65 ā€“ 75. (2009)
  • Book Chapters
    Hendriks S.L., Lyne M.C., Katundu M., and Mjonono M. (2009), Description of the Ezemvelo Farmerā€™s Organisation, the survey methodology and household Demographics In: Does food security improve when smallholders access a niche market? Lessons from Embo Community in South Africa Ed by Hendriks SL and Lyne MC. African Centre for Food Security, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg. P 19 ā€“ 27. (2009)
  • Journal Article
    Katundu, M. G., Hendriks, S. L., Bower, J. P., & Siwela, M. (2007). Effects of traditional storage practices of smallā€scale organic farmers on potato quality. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 87(10), 1820-1825. (2007)