Bongani Lucky Mvubu

Mr Bongani Lucky Mvubu is a Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition Research Officer in the Department of Agricultural Research and Specialist Services, under the Ministry of Agriculture in the Kingdom of Eswatini. He holds an MSc degree in Crop Science from the University of Eswatini obtained in 2015. His research focused is on cropping systems, one of the three pillars of conservation agriculture, soil fertility, plant nutrition, climate change and mitigation. He has experience in soil science (soil and plant tissue sampling, analysis, liming (amendments), data interpretation and recommendation). He has worked with IC Development consultancy conducting environmental impact assessments and conducting audits for agricultural companies. He attended a-three weeks training workshop on Sustainable Agriculture in Taiwan, 2017 and has worked collaboratively with Vusumnotfo in the northern Hhohho, PELAM Eswatini in Mbuluzi and Guba on (organic agriculture) mainly focusing on the use of organic manures for sustainable agriculture, with special reference to building up soil carbon. Mr Mvubu has considerable experience as a researcher in the following cropping systems with grain legume crops using CA technologies, use of biofertilisers (nitrogen-fixing bacteria, mycorrhizae) whose use reduce the dependence of commercial nitrogen fertilisers, that emit carbon dioxide during production, which increase global warming and resulting to climate change and climate variability. He has worked collaboratively with the National Plant Genetic Resources Centre evaluating germplasm material with potential for mitigating climate change and enhancing food security. He has been actively involved in evaluating organic and inorganic fertilisers, with the view to find the most productive organic fertilisers, which can be used as a substitute for inorganic fertilisers, whose use may have effects of soil health and soil carbon. His research on the relationship between soil fertility and drought tolerance has led to the release of six bean cultivars. This is a no mean achievement given the threat of repeated drought in Eswatini, and indeed in the SADC region. His on-farm experience in the areas of cropping systems and conservation agriculture are added advantages as he is also involved in the integration of climate-smart agricultural technologies into community farming for increasing farmer resilience to climate change-upscaling market-oriented climate-smart agriculture project run by the Eswatini National Agricultural Marketing Board funded by COMESA.