NCST Commends UNIMA on Progress in AI and IoT Food Processing Research
The National Commission for Science and Technology (NCST) has commended the University of Malawi (UNIMA) for progress made during the first phase of the AI-Driven Machine Vision and IoT Systems for Quality Control and Waste Reduction in Food Processing Manufacturing project.
The commendation followed a monitoring and evaluation visit on 24 August 2026, during which a research team from UNIMA presented progress in industrial needs assessment, experimental development, postgraduate research and preparations for the next phase.
The UNIMA team was represented by Dr Stanley Mlatho, Head of the Department of Physics and Electronics and Project Co-Principal Investigator, and Dr Dackson Masiyano, Project Principal Investigator.
The project forms part of a Malawi–Rwanda collaborative research initiative aimed at applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to improve manufacturing.
In Malawi, the project is being implemented by UNIMA in collaboration with NASFAM Commercialization Enterprise (NASCOMEX).
During the review, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at NCST, Vitumbiko Kumwenda, commended the team for its progress and encouraged it to maintain momentum as the research moves into more intensive experimental development and validation.
Senior Communications and Public Relations Officer at NCST, Sophie Gomani, also encouraged the team to strengthen documentation and communication of project activities, milestones and research outputs.
The first phase identified key industry challenges, including contaminant detection in rice, labour-intensive sorting in maize processing, and equipment health and energy monitoring.
Postgraduate researchers are also advancing work on IoT-based equipment condition monitoring and optical approaches to aflatoxin-risk screening in maize.
The project will now move into a more intensive phase focused on experimental data generation, machine-learning model development, validation and testing in food-processing environments.
Despite some procurement challenges linked to foreign-exchange constraints, the team has made progress towards acquiring specialised equipment required for the research.
The positive NCST assessment marks an important milestone as the project transitions from mobilisation and preparation to the development and validation of practical AI- and IoT-enabled solutions for Malawi’s agro-processing sector, while strengthening research collaboration between Malawi and Rwanda.
