research

The 67 ha field laboratory of Class 1 soil is divided into 100 rectangular plots which form the basis of the on station research programme.

There is a small area of coffee set aside for disease research and a small plantation of Jatropha curcas for demonstration purposes. Most of the research that is done each year is annual crop variety improvement with some agronomy and machinery evaluation.

The Trust, in co-operation with willing farmers, runs an off station research programme with some 30 sites around the country for both Summer and Winter investigations.  

The Trust regularly has University and Agricultural College under graduates undergoing practical hands on training on attachment for various periods.

By 2000, 20 years after its inception, the Agricultural Research Trust was one of the best developed institutes of its kind in Africa, if not the world. It compares very favourably with the Morley Research Centre in Norfolk, England, but is able to serve a much larger area including Zambia, Malawi, Kenya and South Africa.