Global Action to End Smoking Completes Agricultural Transformation Centre in Malawi

LILONGWE, Malawi, Oct. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Action to End Smoking is pleased to announce that it has completed the Global Action Agricultural Transformation Centre, a building it has formally gifted to the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR). This achievement recently was celebrated at a ribbon-cutting event attended by leadership and students from LUANAR, members of the Malawi Ministry of Agriculture, and senior leaders from Global Action.

The Global Action Centre in Malawi is a state-of-the-art facility that was designed to foster agricultural learning for LUANAR students and smallholder farmers in Malawi as they transition away from tobacco to more environmentally and economically stable crops.

Global Action's affiliate, the Agricultural Transformation Initiative, supported Global Action's efforts to construct the Centre. Global Action's grantee Land O' Lakes Venture37 led the Center for Agricultural Transformation (CAT) project. Additional educational and supportive programs for smallholder farmers, students, and other stakeholders are supported by Global Action grantees including Michigan State University, LUANAR, and more.

"We are so pleased to support this university's goal of promoting sustainable agriculture and diversifying away from tobacco farming, which is directly linked to Global Action's mission to end combustible tobacco use," said Pamela Parizek, Global Action's Executive Board Chair and Guest of Honor at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

At present, Malawi is heavily dependent on tobacco, with this single crop representing a significant portion of Malawi's gross domestic product and roughly half of the country's exports. While smoking cessation can lead to more people living longer, healthier lives, it also can negatively impact Malawian smallholder farmers' livelihoods. Climate change presents another challenge to effectively diversifying crops and ensuring sustainable yields for years to come.

"Reducing demand for tobacco without supporting farmers would result in serious economic consequences," said Dr. Candida Nakhumwa, Vice President and Country Director for Global Action in Malawi. "That's why Global Action's approach includes agricultural transformation as a critical part of the global public health response."

The Global Action Centre and its educational initiatives have supported more than 800,000 smallholder farmers. Through programs like the development of Smart Farms, these farmers have adopted modern agricultural practices and transitioned to alternative crops such as soybeans, groundnuts, bananas, and sunflowers. Many of these farmers already have reported increased yields and incomes, with this building promising to support hundreds of thousands of farmers in the future.

In addition to the creation of the physical Centre, Global Action's grantmaking activities in Malawi have provided scholarships for master's and PhD students to learn innovative agricultural practices, which has led several to become successful entrepreneurs. Grantees have also supported the Malawi Agricultural Policy Advancement and Transformation Agenda, a think tank that works closely with the Malawian government to develop evolving policies to support agricultural transformation.

The Global Action Centre will continue to serve as a hub to share research and training to connect all these areas of work. It houses laboratories for soil and food analysis, collaborative meeting spaces, and facilities for peer-to-peer learning among farmers, students, and researchers.

"The completion of this building and our work with grantees through the Agricultural Transformation Initiative exemplify what I value most at Global Action to End Smoking: centering people as we work toward a healthier, more sustainable tomorrow," said Parizek.

"Providing this building to LUANAR was a natural choice, as it furthers Global Action's priority of focusing on often overlooked individuals and communities. We are so proud to have the Global Action Centre as a legacy of our work here," she added.

About Global Action to End Smoking:

Global Action to End Smoking is an independent, U.S. nonprofit 501(c)(3) grantmaking organization whose mission is to end combustible tobacco use, which remains the leading preventable cause of death globally. Through September 2023, Global Action received charitable gifts from PMI Global Services Inc. Global Action does not seek or accept funding from companies that produce tobacco or non-medicinal nicotine products.

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SOURCE Global Action to End Smoking