Agriculture

Malawi remains in another era when it comes to agricultural development. Long before the advent of mechanized vehicles most farm work, including field cultivation, was done with only a single hand-held hoe. Malawi remains locked in that time with nearly 85% of the population surviving on small family plots through the use of a single garden hoe. While this type of cultivation somewhat accomplished its goals when the population was 4 million people in the early 1960’s, today’s population of over 18 million people must have more than a hand hoe to survive.

Through the years the Malawi Project has committed major focus on helping the village people of Malawi move slowly and purposefully into a more productive area; some mechanization combined with ancient, proven methods of food production; some combination of community resources combined with earlier practices of family support.

One step at a time the Malawi Project is helping the people of Malawi to create more successful methods for food production and storage. Here are some of the ways it is working.

Famine Relief

When the house is on fire you don’t deliver a speech on fire prevention. You get a bucket of water. The same is true during a famine. When food is short you deliver food. Then, as the famine begins to disappear you begin to execute methods that will help offset the next famine. The Project focuses on famine relief during famine times, then turns attention to ways to avoid and offset the next famine.

In recent years well in excess of a million dollars in food aid has been sent to all three regions of the country to assist the people.

Drip Irrigation

One of the major ways to offset famine in Malawi is to use some sort of irrigation that can offer the opportunity to plant an entire crop during the dry season when there is no rain for as much as 6 months. The use of drip irrigation not only offers hope when there is no rain, it also reduces by a full 25% the amount of water that needs to be used to irrigate growing crops.

Over 11,000 drip irrigation lines have been sent to the country and, along with training, have been distributed to all three regions of the country.

V-Tractors

In an attempt to create some degree of mechanization the Malawi Project has worked closely with Agricultural Aid International to develop a small, easy-to-learn, and easy-to-use farm tractor that can fit the needs of small village areas where the use of powered equipment is new to the population and slow to make inroads into the culture.

Six of the V-Tractors have been sent to Malawi, and have distributed to test areas in all three regions of the country.

Walk Behind Tractors

The walk behind tractor is another creation of Agricultural Aid International and is meant to handle village needs where the larger tractor is prohibited by cost and fuel usage restrictions. The walk behind holds similar traits to the roto-tiller designed units that handle yard work, and small family gardens in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Three of the walk behind tractors have been sent to Malawi, one of them to the prison system to assist in food production for the inmates.

Basic Utility Vehicles

Small units to transport goods and people, a small number of Basic Utility Vehicles (BUV’s) are serving in a test market in Malawi to determine their value and importance for the various programs in which they are directed. These units can serve to transport as many as a dozen people over reasonably long distances with little fuel cost, or other units can carry grain, or vegetables to storage or to market.

Three of the BUV’s have been sent to Malawi and distributed into two of the three regions of Malawi.

Mobility

Whether it is the mobility-impaired who need a means of income, those who are seeking reliable transportation, or the development of efficient methods for moving vegetables from field to market, the MP is testing different ways mobility units and/or bicycles with small wagons can be employed to overcome some of these transpiration and logistical problems.

Grain Storage Facilities

Dubbed the Joseph Projects, two test sites have brought into being large community storage buildings, whereby local churches, or community development groups work together as a farm co-op to raise sufficient crops to store for the community against future down years in crop production. The co-operating communities raise additional crops, and then form community programs to distribute the food in times of need.

Education

The best program is doomed to failure if the people who are commissioned to carry it out do not believe in it, or understand its value and importance. With agricultural programs comes the need for education; whether it is on-location teaching sessions, or through written material widely distributed through the nation, the Project employs both on-site training, as well as educational literature to help with the various programs.

Agriculture Stories

  • FISH FARMS BEGIN IN DOWA DISTRICT

    Lilongwe, Malawi … In the spring of 2022 Jan Dean, a specialist in fish farming, and Richard Stephens, of the Malawi Project (MP), traveled to the country for a fact-finding trip about fish farming possibilities. The focus was to evaluate if creating several fish farms as examples of what can be done by small-scale farmers,…

  • Tomatoes Feed The Bottom Line

    Tomatoes Feed The Bottom Line

    Action for Progress, Malawi … The harvest is beginning to take place from the first season of tomato production at the Action for Progress greenhouses. AfP staff members worked together to development the plants, starting this project with little knowledge about raising tomatoes. However, over the course of just two months, they have gained a…

  • STORY IS IMPOSSIBLE TO CONSIDER!

    STORY IS IMPOSSIBLE TO CONSIDER!

    Lilongwe, Malawi … “I turned the page on the Sunday edition of the NATION newspaper and drew in a quick breath. The story glared back at me. It was a report on the ongoing problems from cyclone Freddy. Remember Freddy? It is the cyclone that struck Malawi in March, the longest running cyclone in history,…

  • TOMATOES TARGET OVERHEAD

    TOMATOES TARGET OVERHEAD

    Lilongwe, Malawi … One of the foundation principles of both the Malawi Project and Action for Progress is to help the nation of Malawi become self-sustaining and independent.  Dick Stephens, co-Founder and Board Member for the Malawi Project reflects. “For too long,” Stephens observes, “there has been a feeling among many in Malawi that little can be done…

  • LEBANON WAREHOUSE DOORS OPEN WIDE

    LEBANON WAREHOUSE DOORS OPEN WIDE

    Lebanon, Indiana … With an influx of critically needed supplies for the people of Malawi the work at the Lebanon, Indiana warehouse has accelerated to an all-time high.   School Supplies The end of the school year signaled an inflow of new and used textbooks and school supplies. These arrived from schools in Zionsville, Lebanon, and…

  • Field Cultivation 

    Field Cultivation 

    Lilongwe, Malawi … The sun is near the highest point in the sky. There is no relief from the heat, and it has been this way the entire morning. It is over 80 degrees, and this will continue until the sun goes down in the late afternoon. He will return to his fields tomorrow and…

  • A STORM FOR THE AGES

    A STORM FOR THE AGES

    The bottom dropped out of the sky, and rain came down in torrents. For hours it poured. There were few places to which one could find relief as the water surged through valleys and into villages. Streets in Malawi’s commercial center were impassable, and the only grace was in climbing up nearby hillsides. Roads began…

  • GREENHOUSES ABOUT TO GO GREEN

    GREENHOUSES ABOUT TO GO GREEN

    Lilongwe, Malawi … To help Malawi families with acceptable prices, as well as offset some of their administrative costs, ACTION FOR PROGRESS, with the help of the MALAWI PROJECT, and a grant from POWER OF ONE, recently purchased and erected two large green houses on the AfP property west of the capital. The green houses,…

  • VOLUNTEERS PICK UP TOOLS TO HELP FARMERS

    VOLUNTEERS PICK UP TOOLS TO HELP FARMERS

    Lebanon, Indiana … The catastrophic destruction from Cyclone Freddie has left in its wake a disastrous loss of life, destruction of business, devastation of villages and grain storage, and collapse of crop production for this entire year. (Grain was only weeks away from harvest).  The loss of life has passed 500, with some people buried…

  • FIVE SHIPMENTS LEAVE FOR MALAWI

    FIVE SHIPMENTS LEAVE FOR MALAWI

    Lebanon, Indiana … The first 40-foot shipping container of the year rolled out of Lebanon, Indiana on Thursday 16 March around noon, destined for Malawi. Three other loads were being arranged one in Arkansas, another in northern Indiana and yet another in Michigan. As the Lebanon shipment, filled with educational materials, medical supplies, and agricultural systems,…

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