A.M. Chirembo
Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Department of Agricultural Research
Chitedze Research Station, P.O. Box 158, Lilongwe, Malawi
E-mail: agriculture.planning@malawi.net
Agricultural and natural resources research in Malawi has two biometric support units, one belonging to the Department of Agricultural Research and Technical Services (DARTS) in the Ministry of Agriculture (one biometrician) and the other to Bunda College of Agriculture, University of Malawi (two biometricians). The latter is primarily engaged in teaching with few consultancy activities (see Jonazi, this proceedings). The number of research scientists currently working in the agricultural and natural resources research in the country is summarised in Table 1. With only three biometricians, and two of these heavily involved in teaching, there is consequently poor interaction between biometricians and scientists. The biometrician to scientist ratio at DARTS is 1:80.
Table 1. Number of scientists involved in agricultural and natural resources research and teaching in Malawi.
Institutions |
Numbers of scientists and their academic | |||
PhD |
MSc |
BSc |
Total | |
Colleges |
40 |
37 |
4 |
81 |
DARTS |
23 |
44 |
13 |
80 |
Other government research institutions |
7 |
48 |
37 |
92 |
Private research institutions |
9 |
10 |
3 |
22 |
Total |
79 |
139 |
57 |
275 |
The role of the DARTS biometrics unit is to advise research workers on the design of experiments and the interpretation of results and to organise computer and other services for the analysis of data. The unit was established in 1969 under the United Kingdom's Agricultural Research Council (ARC). It quickly gained confidence among research workers who frequently sought guidance in experimental techniques. By 1974 the unit had three biometrician, two of whom were local staff who had been trained at the University of Cambridge, England. The ending of the ARC support in April 1975 terminated the contract of the expatriate biometricians. From September 1996 to the present a lone biometrician has served the unit. The unit was provided with a good collection of books and journals when it was supported by the ARC 25 years ago but nothing has been added since.
Most scientists are initially recruited as BSc graduates from the University of Malawi and sent abroad for advanced training. Some, however, now stay in Malawi for MSc training at the University of Malawi through donor-supported programmes such as The Rockefeller Foundation and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). The four-year BSc programme at the university has some statistics courses with experimental design taught in the final year.
Thereafter, further training in the application of biometry is mainly through consultations with the biometricians, often only when a scientist is faced with a problem of data analysis. Short courses are rare due to lack of funds and non-recognition of their importance by management. Field plot layout and sampling procedures are areas of particular concern especially as many scientists leave these tasks to research assistants who are often untrained in this area. Consequently, orientation of plots and blocking procedures are not being followed (Mtukuso and Chirembo 1999). There is also a lack of rigorous attention to data recording. Data such as 0.5, 1.14, 1 recorded for the same variable are commonly seen in field data books.
Other research institutions are encouraged to use the Bunda College and DARTS biometrics units. However, apart from one of the two private research institutes shown in Table 1 none have done so.
Government research funding as a proportion of agricultural GDP, often used as a measure of support to agricultural research, is well below the expected international level of 2% and declining. Research funding relies on donor-funded development budgets. Such funding does not usually take into account biometric support nor provide for general in-country biometrics training courses to keep pace with modern biometric and computing developments. Statistical software is thus limited and much is used unofficially. Some software has been procured by scientists at the end of their graduate studies and some provided some time ago by donors. There are few manuals and scientists lack training. The most frequently used software for statistical analysis includes SAS, Genstat and Mstat.
The lack of professional biometric input to agricultural research projects has strong implications for the quality of project results. A number of activities need to be initiated in Malawi with regard to the development of biometric skills. Among such activities are the following:
Mtukuso A.P. and Chirembo A.M. 1999. Report of the monitoring of DARTS research experiments, 1998/99 season.
