Mphangera Kamanga of Malawi, a 2015 AWARD Fellow, seized the opportunity to attend a conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The conference titled, ‘Sustainable Agriculture and Global Food Security,’ was organized by The International Institute of Knowledge Management (TIIKM) in collaboration with Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir and University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India. It attracted researchers from over 20 different countries across the world who showcased their research work through oral presentations and posters.

Kamanga, who is currently enrolled at the University of Pretoria in South Africa where she is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Science, had an oral presentation titled ‘Assessing the maize yield variability in response to climate change using Decision Support System for Agro-technology Transfer (DSSAT) Model in Malawi.’

The aim of the conference was to bring together researchers, academicians, practitioners and policy makers to discuss and debate the critically important topics related to the field of agriculture and forestry in ensuring food security. It also served as an avenue to provide a scientific platform for, scholars, practitioners, scientists, corporate and public policymakers around the world to network and share knowledge on agricultural innovations.

“With the aim of promoting agricultural sustainability, The TIIKM – International Conference on Agriculture and Forestry (ICOAF) is held annually and I’d urge agriculturalists to attend this conference because it is an eye opener,” says Kamanga.

“I networked with many scientists from different backgrounds across the continents,” says Kamanga. “It was a great experience interacting with people coming from different disciplines contributing towards food security. I’m grateful to AWARD and all the other sponsors for their support.”