We present the second country-specific N footprint of a developing country in the SSA region: Malawi. Agriculture is predominantly the main cause of N footprint in most developing countries and Malawi is not exceptional. N-footprint studies are of tremendous relevance to both accomplish sustainable environment and even improve agriculture N management which guarantees adequate output. Unfortunately, there are very limited studies in Malawi, which attempt to identify, estimate, and contribute toward N management. To fill the gap, the paper presents the first country-specific N footprint of Malawi using the novel web-based tool called N-calculator. We estimated the N footprint from agriculture products in Malawi from 2002 to 2016. Top-down calculations were also employed to estimate the total N-input (Synthetic N fertilizer, biological N fixation, animal N manure, and atmospheric N deposition) for Malawi. The crop product considered in this study includes maize, rice, starchy roots, fruits, and vegetables while livestock include chicken (eggs as a separate category), cattle (beef and dairy), and small ruminants (goats, pigs). The results reviewed that rice and maize have the highest virtual N factor in the category of the crop, while beef and milk are the highest in the animal product category. The average food N footprint of Malawi was 14.67 Kg N/cap-1/yr-1 whereby 12.12 Kg N/cap-1/yr-1 was a virtual N footprint and 2.55 Kg N/cap-1/yr-1 was consumption footprint. The food products' N footprint results of Malawi were compared to the findings of other related studies across the globe. Finally, there is an urgent need for proper policy interventions which target improvement of N use efficiency and reduction of reactive N escape since Malawi agriculture system N problem is dualistic: increasing reactive N escape and insufficient N input. Further studies are therefore required to assess how international trade and energy consumption influence the perturbation of the nitrogen budget in Malawi and link the footprint to the associated environmental effects.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................... iii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................. v
LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .................................................... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................... ix
LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................... xi
LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................... xiii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1
1.1 Background ......................................................................... 1
1.2 Motivation .......................................................................... 5
1.3 Research questions and objectives .................................................... 6
1.4 Research Process ..................................................................... 6
2. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................ 9
2.1 The Threat of Reactive Nitrogen. ...................................................... 9
2.1.1 Planetary Boundary and Nitrogen. .................................................... 13
2.2 Agriculture development and Nitrogen usage in Malawi ................................... 17
2.2.1 Constraints of agriculture system in Malawi ........................................ 20
2.3 Nitrogen Footprint Approaches ........................................................ 22
2.4 Application of N-Calculator model in previous studies ................................ 30
3. CHAPTER 3 STUDY AREA & METHODS ...................................................... 37
3.1 Study Area: Malawi ................................................................... 37
3.2 Data Collection & Analysis............................................................. 39
3.2.1 Top-down calculation of Nitrogen input in Agriculture production .................... 41
3.2.2 Virtual Nitrogen factor and Nitrogen Footprint. ..................................... 44
3.2.3 Comparison of N input and N losses. ................................................. 50
3.2.4 Data Analysis ........................................................................ 51
4. CHAPTER 4 RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS ........................................................ 53
4.1 Top-down calculation of Nitrogen input in agriculture land ........................... 53
4.2 Nitrogen Footprint and Virtual Nitrogen Factor ...................................... 57
4.3 Agriculture N input and N footprint of Malawi. ...................................... 59
4.4 Results of regression model ........................................................... 61
4.4.1 Malawi N footprint, urbanization, and population trend. ............................ 61
x
4.4.2 Malawi N footprint, HIV prevalence, Infant Mortality & GDP. .......................... 63
4.4.3 Characteristics of Malawi Nitrogen Footprint. ...................................... 65
4.5 Comparison of Malawi N footprint and Virtual N factors to other N-footprints. .... 69
5. CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS .................................................... 75
5.1 Conclusion ............................................................................ 75
5.2 Suggested N management initiatives based on the Malawi N-calculator results. .... 77

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