Dr. Weber joined the Department in 1976 and has worked persistently since then with teams of host-country collaborators, as well as faculty and graduate students in the Department of Agricultural Economics to build and sustain MSU’s strong programs of research, teaching, and outreach on country- and international-level agricultural development and food security. Professor of Agricultural Economics, his contributions have spanned teaching, research, outreach, and service to the University. His faculty career at MSU began as an MSU Visiting Professor based at the Federal University of Ceara in Fortaleza, Brazil and has grown to involve work in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. Up until early 2007 he was Co-Director of MSU’s flagship program in African food security and food-system development, the USAID-MSU Food Security Cooperative Agreements. He is currently on long-term assignment as a food security policy advisor, working with the Zambia Food Security Research Project, resident in Lusaka, Zambia. He will remain there until September 2009. Dr. Weber has served as major professor over 35 M.S. and Ph.D. students in the Department. He has also taken the lead as editor of the Department’s International Development Series, and in mentoring a series of “MSU Food Security Policy Syntheses,” making available many forms of documents which are widely read in research and donor institutions worldwide. He is a native English speaker, fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and has intermediate French capabilities. In 2003 he was awarded the Ralph H. Smuckler Award for Advancing International Studies and Programs at Michigan State University.

Professional Interests

• Marketing and trade relationships in Southern Africa
• Food security and domestic grain and/or horticulture marketing research in Mozambique, Zambia and Kenya
• Use of microcomputers and the internet in research and analysis
• Developing a Food Security and Food Policy Information Portal for Africa in cooperation with a number of African partners
• Household-level access to land in Africa
• Improving rural product markets and food distribution systems, and overall food security in developing countries, especially in Africa and Latin America
• Understanding the economic effects of HIV/AIDS in rural settings by studying household-level prime-age adult death and illness.

Selected Publications

Tembo, G. A., Chapoto, Antony, Jayne, Thomas S., Weber, Michael T. 2010. Fostering Food Market Development in Zambia. Zambia Social Science Journal 1 (1): 39-60.

Mather, D, Cynthia Donovan, T.S Jayne, Michael Weber, Edward Mazhangara, Linda Bailey, Kyeongwon Koo, Takashi Yamano and Elliot Mghenyi. 2004. “A Cross-Country Analysis of Household Response to Adult Mortality in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for HIV/AIDS Mitigation and Rural Development Policies. Food Security III Policy Synthesis , no 71. East Lansing, Dept. of Agricultural Economics.

Mather, D., Higino Marrule, Cynthia Donovan, Michael T. Weber and A. Alage. 2004 “Analysis of Adult Mortality Within Rural Households in Mozambique and Implications for Policy”. MADER Research Paper No. 58E.

Jayne, T.S., Takashi Yamano, Michael Weber, David Tschirley, Rui Benfica, David Neven, Anthony Chapoto and Ballard Zulu. 2003. “Smallholder Income and Land Distribution in Africa: Implications for Poverty Reduction Strategies”,Food Policy, 28 (2003) 253-275.

Jayne, T.S., Takashi Yamano, Michael Weber, David Tschirley, Rui Benfica, David Neven, Anthony Chapoto and Ballard Zulu. 2002. " Smallholder Income and Land Distribution in Africa: Implications for Poverty Reduction Strategies”, Food Security II Policy Synthesis, no 59. East Lansing, Dept. of Agricultural Economics.

Dembélé, Niama Nango, John M. Staatz, and Michael T. Weber. May 2003. “Impact Of The Malian Cereals Market Reform Program On Farmers”, Food Security II Policy Synthesis, no 68. East Lansing, Dept. of Agricultural Economics.

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Funded Research Projects

• Co-Director of Food Security III Cooperative Agreement, which carries out applied research on improving food system performance in Mali, Mozambique, Zambia, Rwanda, The Sahel region and other areas of Africa.
• Campus backstop work for Research Projects on:
  MSU/USAID-Zambia Food Security Research Project (FSRP)
  MSU/USAID-Mozambique Food Security Research and Policy Dialogue Cooperative Agreement
  MSU/USAID-Rwanda Food Security Project (FSRP)
• Member of Technical Committee of Partnership to Cut Poverty and Hunger in Africa.