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Name | Mzuyanda Christian |
| Highest qualification | PhD (University of Fort Hare, South Africa) | |
| Position | Professor | |
| Contact details | mzuyanda1990@gmail.com | |
| Research interests/expertise | Sustainable Livelihoods; Agricultural Policy; Agricultural & Rural Development; Cooperatives & collective action; Food Security; Climate Change | |
| Teaching | Public Policy; Sustainable Livelihoods & Resource Management | |
| Current projects | INCLUDE (Food Systems); NRF Thuthuka rating Track; Knowledge, Interchange and Collaboration (KIC) |
Christian Mzuyanda is a Full Professor of Sustainable Livelihoods and Resource Management in the Department of Academic Programmes at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa (UNISA). Prior to this appointment, he served as an Associate Professor in the School of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Mpumalanga. An Agricultural Economist by training, Professor Mzuyanda’s research focuses on agricultural development, agricultural policy, agribusiness development, and rural livelihoods. He has an extensive publication record, with numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers published in leading journals in South Africa and internationally. His work contributes to advancing policy-relevant research on sustainable agricultural systems, rural development, and economic opportunities for communities across Africa.
He has presented on various forums, local and international academic conferences on agricultural economic research and contributed to policy development and formulation of issues facing the African economies. While sustaining a coherent and focused research niche in agricultural economics, He reviews research manuscripts for several local and international journals and conferences namely International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA), Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE), South African Association of Agricultural Extension (SASAE), and International Conference on Business Models in Agriculture among others. Prof Christian is also a peer reviewer of the National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africa. He assists with the evaluation of the proposals submitted for research funding. Prof Christian is currently funded by the National Research Foundation - Thuthuka Rating Track (TTK23041392782) for his research project. He also secured the Knowledge Interchange and Collaboration (KIC240814259081) grant and is set to travel to Brazil for a conference using this funding.
Prof. Christian has successfully supervised 15 Master’s dissertations and 4 Doctoral theses; externally examined masters dissertations for various South African universities (10 MSc from the 5 Universities in South Africa). He is currently involved in the supervision and mentoring of students since 2023. Additionally, he teaches across various degree programmes in the School. His main teaching fields are agribusiness management, production economics, agricultural development and agricultural policy analysis and food security. In recognition of his teaching excellence, Prof Christian was awarded the Teaching Excellence Award for 2022 at a prestigious event hosted by North-West University (NWU) held in Mahikeng. Furthermore, for his outstanding contributions through research and his work with his NPO, Prof. Christian received the Mail & Guardian Greening the Future Award in 2024 at a distinguished event held in Sandton, South Africa.
