SWAGºÏ¼¯

Areas of expertise

• Agrifood Systems
• Food Quality
• Food Safety

Background

Lembe Magwaza earned his PhD in Postharvest Biology and Technology of Horticultural Crops in 2013. His Commonwealth Scholarship-funded doctoral research was jointly conducted at two centres of excellence: The Research Chair of Postharvest Technology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa and the Postharvest Research Group at SWAGºÏ¼¯, in the United Kingdom. During this time, Lembe pioneered novel non-destructive techniques for detecting internal quality and pre-symptomatic biomarkers of postharvest rind physiological disorders in citrus fruit.

Lembe’s research career began in 2004 at the Agricultural Research Council, where he worked as a researcher in Postharvest Sciences. Prior to joining SWAGºÏ¼¯ in 2023, he held several academic and leadership positions at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (SWAGºÏ¼¯ZN), including Lecturer (2014), Senior Lecturer (2018), Associate Professor (2020), and Academic Leader for Teaching and Learning (equivalent to Director of Education; 2021–2023). He has successfully supervised 15 PhDs, 31 MSc by research, 8 Honours students, and 5 Postdoctoral Fellows.

With over 20 years of research experience, Lembe has developed a broad and versatile skill set. His academic expertise spans fundamental plant physiology, biochemistry, chemometrics, and modelling food loss and waste across the postharvest value chain. He is also an active member of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS).

Research opportunities

- Agrifood Systems

- Food Loss, Waste, and Safety

- Postharvest Physiology and Quality

- Plant Physiology and Environmental Interactions

Current activities

Lembe’s research addresses Postharvest Food Loss and Waste (PFLW), a global challenge requiring both logistical interventions and biological insights to improve shelf life and product quality. His research focuses on uncovering the fundamental biological mechanisms in fruits and vegetables and applying this knowledge to integrate biology with data analytics. This approach aims to optimise supply chains and develop innovative solutions to reduce PFLW, which can account for up to 40% of harvested yields. These losses represent not only a massive waste of resources but also a missed opportunity to nourish our ever-increasing population.

His research vision integrates plant biology, genomics, sensor technology, machine learning, and bioinformatics to develop high-throughput, non-destructive models for phenotyping and quality monitoring in horticultural crops. His machine vision expertise has led to practical applications globally, such as algorithms for protein quantification in sweetpotato breeding and for detecting adulteration in gluten-free banana flour, contributing to enhanced food safety and reduced waste.

His research in postharvest biosciences integrates fundamental physiology, genomics, sensor technology, machine learning, and bioinformatics to develop high-throughput models for non-destructive phenotyping and quality monitoring of horticultural crops. His machine vision expertise has led to practical applications globally, such as algorithms for protein quantification in sweetpotato breeding and detecting adulteration in gluten-free banana flour, contributing to enhanced food safety and reduced food loss and waste.

Recognising that food loss and waste begin in the field—when crops are stressed, poorly nourished, or harvested at the wrong time—Lembe's multidisciplinary research focuses on plant–environment interactions. He integrates crop nutrition, water management, and maturity indexing to optimise produce quality. His work develops strategic, sustainable approaches to crop production across both protected and open-field systems, with a strong emphasis on understanding the physiological mechanisms underpinning CO₂ assimilation, source–sink relationships, yield formation, and the nutritional and sensory quality of fresh produce.

Collaborating with avocado growers, Lembe is investigating uneven ripening in new cultivars, focusing on photosynthetic efficiency, photochemistry, and photoprotection mechanisms. To date, this study has revealed that outer canopy leaves have higher photosynthetic rates, leading to earlier fruit maturity linked to higher pulp dry matter, oil content, and D-mannoheptulose (C7 sugar). This work will inform industry harvest decisions, ensuring optimal fruit maturity and reducing uneven ripening, enhancing quality and marketability.

Clients

• Innovate SWAGºÏ¼¯
• SWAGºÏ¼¯ Research and Innovation
• Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Publications

• Articles in journals
• Conference papers
• Books