Biography

Obed Mwenye is a Potato Agronomist/Pathologist (Post Doc) based in Lilongwe, Malawi. He is a Malawian national and holds a Ph.D. in Agriculture from the University of the Free State, South Africa. He was honored with the Norman Sinclair New Crop Award for the best postgraduate student in new crop research from the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State.

Obed joined CIP in 2019 after working with the Department of Agricultural Research Services in Malawi, where his research focused on potato breeding and seed systems. He developed and promoted a clean seed multiplication and dissemination system for potatoes in Malawi and advanced potato seed improvement programs through training farmers and extension workers in seed selection techniques in the main potato-growing areas of Malawi.

At CIP, Obed supports the implementation of client-oriented models for rapid access to quality potato seed, participates in the promotion and development of adapted seed potato technologies, and business models for actors along the seed potato value chain. He also develops, validates, and applies research in seed quality maintenance, potato agronomy, and integrated crop management (ICM) technologies.