When we first walked into the Chitosa Trading grain warehouse, it was hard to envision just what this great big empty room could do to help improve the livelihoods and food security of Malawian farmers. But Mr. George Chitosa told us not to worry -– there are a few weeks to go before the harvest. In a month, this warehouse will be piled high with maize, and the farmers that sell to him will go home happy with a good price for their maize.
In a very remote village set on a steep hillside in Zomba district, Save the Children, under the US Feed the Future Initiative, is working with communities to improve their well-being and livelihoods through improved nutrition, sanitation and access to savings and credit.
At the Chitsanzo Milk Bulking Group we learned that just one cow can turn around a family’s life. A key challenge facing many smallholder farmers is earning enough money to feed their families and send their kids to school. In Malawi, there is a real need for more dairy producers, because otherwise, milk must be imported from other countries. This makes milk more expensive and does little to grow incomes.
After a long, bumpy drive across fields and stream crossings — described as an “improvement” over the way owners Kerry Osborne and her husband originally found the place — we arrived at Funwe Seed Farm. We soon learned that this wasn’t just any old farm either. This farm is helping to improve food security, nutrition and generate employment for the surrounding community.
We began our trip to Malawi at a research station that developed improved seed varieties to counter devastating disease and drought. Many of those plant varieties developed at Chitedze Research Station are sold to Funwe Seed Farm to produce quality seed for the surrounding community.
Funwe’s packaged and certified seed is sold to farmers in agro-dealer shops, which is where we came upon Mrs. Flora Kahumbe. Flora owns two agro-dealer shops near Monkey Bay, Malawi, at the south end of Lake Malawi. She was trained by RUMARK, a local NGO that gets support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. RUMARK makes sure that agro-dealers like Flora know about proper storage for seeds and chemicals, safe application of crop-protection chemicals like pesticides and the appropriate ways of applying the right types of fertilizer for maximum effect.
Yet, Flora is more than just a shop-owner; she’s really almost an extension agent that provides valuable knowledge to farmers on how to get the most out of their seed. With three employees in each store, Flora is creating stable employment in her community and ensuring that the seed she sells does its best to feed Malawi’s growing mouths.
Morgana and Emily were recently in Malawi where they observed firsthand the progress being made by farmers in Malawi– and the challenges. You can read Emily’s first post here.
Rosette ravishes crops like peanuts or “groundnuts” as they’re called in Malawi like the plague – its proliferating brown spots spread indiscriminately from plant to plant disregarding property lines. Every year Malawian farmers lose 21% of groundnut crops to this deadly pestilence – or approximately $9 million. In weeks a year’s investment rots under the scourge of these fatal marks.
To rescue these and other crops, the Chitedze Research Station (funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) is researching and developing new seed varieties that will be resistant to drought and disease. Investments in agriculture research and development averages a 43% return on investment and growth in agriculture is twice as effective at reducing poverty as growth in other economic sectors.
Emily Alpert, a senior policy manager at ONE, is reporting on agriculture programs live from Malawi.
When I woke up this morning, it was gray, cloudy and smelled distinctly of rain. While this might seem like a gloomy day when staying in bed might be the preferred option, rain here in Malawi is a lifeline for millions of smallholder farmers who depend on agriculture –- and rain -– for their livelihoods.
Over the next week, I’m going to be learning about a number of agricultural development programs in Malawi. Some are part of the US government’s Feed the Future Initiative. Others are funded through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. What I’m fascinated by is the opportunity to learn about how all the programs put together, from research and seed development to marketing and trading, make up the agricultural value chain. Not to mention, the importance of linking all of these components together to generate improved farm productivity, income, growth and eventually poverty reduction. At ONE, we call this the “multiplier effect.”
If you take a look at ONE’s infographic on the multiplier effect here (see image above), this is how I envision the sites I’m going to visit this week will fit into the cycle:
Smart agriculture investments could be the development of improved seed varieties for cassava, pigeonpea, chickpea, maize and cassava produced at the Chitedze Research Station
Crop diversity occurs when smallholders, like the ones that participate in the Wellness Agriculture and Livelihoods Advancement in Zomba (part of the US Feed the Future Initiative) produce a variety of staple grains, legumes and vegetables
The Chitedze research on legume crops helps to provide a key source of protein in diets and improved access to fresh dairy products from the Chistano dairy farm also improves nutrition
The World Food Program’s Purchase for Project (P4P) pilot operating in Malawi right now not only buys food from smallholders (trade crops in markets), but the food they donate to schools helps kids, especially girls, to stay in school
At the Feed the Future Market Linkages Initiative, Chitosa Trading –- a grain bulking warehouse -– is a growing business, employing grain purchasers and creating a guaranteed market for small-holder farmers leading to improved incomes for everyone involved
Funwe Farm, a small seed production business supported by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, practices conservation agriculture improving soil health, helps farmers in the community to become more productive and creates employment for more than 150 people throughout the year
All in all, I hope to see that these programs and initiatives together are creating a sustainable path out of poverty for Malawi’s small-holder farmers and rural communities. Stay tuned for updates along the way.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
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