During some parts of the year, people reported not having anything to eat at all. Often women have only one or two meals a day. Children go to school hungry and are frequently malnourished.
- Initial assessment of existing agricultural practices and potential development needs by District Agricultural Department. They have a process they follow for this called Participatory Rural Appraisal which takes 4 days of research in the village both talking with the farmers and assessing their land and 2 in-office days to process the findings. This is essential as they have the local knowledge about soil types, etc.
- Joint decision made with the District Agricultural department on which areas to focus on based on the needs they have identified and the available resources of the project.
- Training provided by District Agricultural department trainers on methods of improving farming practices and on how to grow any new crops that may be introduced.
- Seeds provided for selected crops and possibly some fertiliser.
- Regular monitoring visits carried out by Agricultural Extension Officer to give further advice and information throughout the growing season.
The seed that is widely used in Malawi is ‘improved’ hybrid seed. This has been introduced by commercial companies and matures more quickly and is more resistant to drought thereby giving greater yields than local seed. Unfortunately, the ‘improved’ seed has been designed so that new seed needs to be purchased every 2 years for it be beneficial. The seed can be used for subsequent years, but because they are hybrids the quality declines markedly each year. It also needs more fertiliser than traditional seed does.
Much discussion took place about this at the Malawi Project Team meeting. Unfortunately, there is hardly any availability of local seed in Malawi as farmers over the years have been encouraged to change over to the ‘improved’ varieties. The farmers in Ntcheu are buying second and third generation poor quality improved seed at present which gives them poor yields.
This has implications for the sustainability of the project. It would be vital that the farmers were able to sell some surplus crops and save money to buy the improved seeds in subsequent years. Unfortunately there does not seem to be any other options available with traditional seed being so scarce in Malawi and there are no improved varieties that do not require new seed to be purchased every couple of years.
A potential way of tackling this problem in the future might be to train a couple of farmers in seed multiplication so that they have the skills and knowledge to produce the improved seed themselves. However, this would be quite an expensive and complicated process as it has to be carefully monitored by the govt. research stations and there are none of these close to Ntcheu.
The necessary fertiliser is expensive, so it is envisaged that the training would include instruction on compost production and methods of crop rotation to improve yields. For example maize yields can be substantially increased by growing (without fertiliser) on a field where soya or groundnuts had previously been grown due to their nitrogen-fixing qualities. The Agricultural Office felt that with good compost production and crop rotation, fertiliser would only be needed for the first two years.
For the project to have a greater chance of success, it would ideally run for two years with a much reduced package provided in the second year. It would be likely that some further training would be useful, less frequent monitoring visits and a reduced amount of fertiliser and seed. However, it was felt at the Malawi project team meeting that the project should be presented to both the community and the district agricultural office as a one year project, but FRF should be aware that some funds are likely to be required for the second year. This would give the farmers a better opportunity to get established and save up the money they would require for further seed in the third year. It also would make the project somewhat less dependant on a favourable climate during one growing season.
Project costs have been given by the District Agricultural Development Office for them to carry out the initial assessment process, training and monitoring. Costings for seeds and fertiliser have been estimated based on data given by them. Total project costings have been given for the training of 50 farmers. There are 15-20 families in the assembly – if one member was sent from each, this would allow 30 places to be available for the community. The community members would be selected based on assessment of need with priorities given to child-headed families and those caring for orphans. The chief of the village (who is in the assembly) would be well placed to identify these families in a way that seemed fair to the community. Costings are also given for running the project with 25 farmers – this would help all assembly families and a few community ones, but does not reduce costs substantially as the training costs would remain the same.
Strengths
- There is fertile land around
- Experienced farmers in the area
- Uses local ability
- Knowledge will remain in the community
- Benefits assembly people
- Allows them to show love to vulnerable families in community
- Reduces hunger
- Improves health
- Improves variety of diet
- Helps with children’s capacity to learn
- Utilises agricultural departments specialist local knowledge
- Everyone sees the benefit
Weaknesses
- New crops introduced may not do well in area
- Weather variations may affect success of harvest
- Risk of dependence on outside provided improved seeds and fertiliser outwith their normal budget
- May not be sustainable after one growing season and may require further input of funds
- Planting season is next month so need to move quickly to obtain seeds etc
- Transportation of seeds/fertiliser to village will be expensive because of its remote location
- Initial training quality is dependant on the skill and enthusiasm of the govt. agricultural officers
- Some families may be less motivated than others
Ways to overcome weaknesses
- Take advice from govt. experts on what crops can be expected to thrive
- Use improved varieties which are more resistant to drought
- Ensure that everyone is aware the project will run only for 1-2 years and the farmers are aware of the need to save money for seed
- Ensure that the training encompasses compost/manure production and crop rotation and that this is stressed to reduce dependence on outside fertiliser
- Motivation could be provided by community motivators within the assembly periodically visiting fields and awarding outstanding performance
