Three consultative workshops were organized between 7th March 2006 and 10th March 2006. The first consultative workshop was held on 7th March 2006 at Mount Soche Hotel in Blantyre with stakeholders in the tea sector and government officials.

The second meeting was held on 8th March 2006 at Mount Soche Hotel in Blantyre with stakeholders in the cotton sector and government officials. The third meeting was held on 10th March 2006 at Capital Hotel in Lilongwe with stakeholders in the agriculture sector including academics, researchers, government officials and the donor community.

The meetings were facilitated by researchers from the University of Malawi, Imperial College London and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). The meetings started with a briefing on the activities of the Future Agricultures Consortium by Professor Jonathan Kydd.

This was followed by sector-specific presentation of research results in the case of tea and cotton, and the presentation of issues on the agriculture sector for the Lilongwe meeting. The sector presentations were followed by a general discussion and identification of policies, issues and research priorities by the stakeholders.