Farming Systems and Rural Livelihoods Analysis

International Post Graduate Course: Farming Systems and Rural Livelihoods Analysis: Sustainable Farming in Multifunctional Landscapes, 22 March - 2 April 2026, Kasungu, Malawi

In collaboration with CGIAR Science Programs on Sustainable Farming and Multifunctional Landscapes, the PE&RC graduate school again organizes this field course (previously run in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Uganda and Ghana) on Farming Systems and Rural Livelihoods Analysis (FSRLA) in central Malawi.

The focus of this edition of the FSRLA course is on farm household systems in multifunctional landscapes, as affected by poverty, pressures of climate change, population growth, land-use change, and changes in markets. Smallholder farming communities in tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America operate in landscapes that offer diverse ecosystem functions and services but also pose stringent constraints on agriculture and food systems. Social and institutional factors (market arrangements, gendered divisions of labour and social practices) are equally important in shaping rural livelihoods.

This field course aims to practice data collection, data integration (with secondary data sources) and the analysis of diverse farm households, using different methodologies and techniques. Data collection through interviews, surveys, transects walks, field observation, will be practiced through field research in a smallholder farming context in the region around Kasungu, Malawi. We will address questions such as: How do diverse farming households currently cope with and adapt to challenges posed by internal resource constraints and external drivers? What alternative land-uses and resource allocations may reduce or overcome trade-offs between farm productivity, rural livelihoods and environmental impacts? Are such alternatives enhancing the resilience of farming households, and how are the burdens and benefits associated with these alternatives distributed within rural communities and households? 

Target group: The course is ideally suited for PhD students and post-docs of Wageningen University, as well as (junior) staff of national agricultural research institutes and institutes of the CGIAR, working on and within (smallholder) production systems, rural livelihoods, and the effects of global change at the regional, national and local level.