The INSTITUTO SUPERIOR POLITÉCNICO DE MANICA (ISPM), is a public tertiary vocational education institution located in Central Mozambique. ISPM was established in 2005 through the Decree 32/2005 of 23rd August of the Mozambican Council of Ministries as part of the implementation of the Ministry of Higher Education Science and Technology strategic plan of expanding access to tertiary education in Mozambique. ISPM is part of three Higher Polytechnic Institutes (HPI) established in Gaza, Tete, and Manica provinces. The HPI’s had the sole mission of contributing to the development of regional and local development through the training of technically capable graduates and applied research directed at helping provide timely and pragmatic responses to tackle locally relevant developmental problems. As such, since its establishment, ISPM has been actively engaged in research and extension activities at both the national and regional levels. Since its creation, the ISPM has been actively involved in the generation and dissemination of relevant knowledge for the design and implementation of locally feasible interventions aiming at improving resource use and productivity across central and northern Mozambique agricultural breadbaskets. Our intervention spans from rain-fed to irrigated agriculture. In Mozambique’s irrigated perimeters – government and farmer-led, our major concern is in understanding water governance, resource productivity, food and nutrition security, and income generation. In recent years, ISPM has successfully implemented joint-research projects with local institutions, e.g., the Mozambican Agricultural Research Institute (IIAM) and the Faculty of Agriculture of the Eduardo Mondlane University. Internationally, ISPM has engaged in successful North-South research initiatives with the likes of Wageningen University and Research Center, the University of Manchester, the University of Lisbon, Queensland University, ARC-LNR, CIMMYT, and CIRAD. Through the CIMMYT commissioned SIMELSA project and EcoAfrica, FIFAMANOR (Madagascar) led project ISPM also has ongoing research partnerships with several local institutions, e., the University of Stellenbosch, University of Pretoria, University of Antananarivo.
