Dr Majola L. Mabuza (PhD)

Dr Majola Mabuza is an Agricultural Economist with a PhD in Agricultural Economics (University of KwaZulu-Natal), an MSc in Agricultural Economics (University of Zimbabwe), Master of Agriculture in Food Security (University of KwaZulu-Natal), a BSc in Agriculture majoring in Agricultural Economics and Management, and a Diploma in Agriculture (University of Eswatini).

He started his career as an Agricultural Economist with the Ministry of Agriculture in the Kingdom of Eswatini in 1999 where he was mainly responsible for the agricultural sector’s rolling development plans and managing the Ministry’s capital programme. He served under the Planning and Budgeting Unit, M&E Unit and the National Early Warning Unit, working with various agencies and development partners, including IFAD, JICA, EU, and FAO. In 2008, he joined the University of Eswatini as a Lecturer in Agricultural Economics and later the North-West University (NWU) in South Africa as a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Agricultural Economics and Extension department. At NWU, he also led the Food Affordability and Accessibility sub-programme under the Food Security and Safety Niche Area. Before joining CCARDESA, Dr Mabuza was employed by the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU), a regional civil society organisation, as a Programme Officer responsible for policy and the organisation’s climate change programme. His prime responsibility was the coordination of a donor-funded regional programme on promoting the adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture in Southern Africa.

With a career spanning over 20 years across the public sector, research and academia, and civil society, Dr Mabuza has gained vast experience in national and regional-level partnerships building and managing stakeholder relations, strategy development, programme/project development, budgeting, resource mobilisation, programme/project management, grant management, monitoring and evaluation, research and training, team building, and policy advocacy. He has worked with and provided leadership to multinational and multicultural teams.

A former Research Fellow with the United Nations University, Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) and Post-doctoral Research Fellow with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Mabuza has produced journal publications and conference papers on various agricultural development subjects. He currently serves as a reviewer for several accredited journals and has supervised Postgraduate research in Agricultural Economics.