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
UBiT FIRE LOGS PASS SECOND TEST
Lilongwe, Malawi … In August of last year, the UBiT fire log program, developed by Dan Brewer, a member of the Malawi Project Board of Directors. passed its initial tests in Malawi. The fire logs, made from empty toilet paper rolls and shredded paper pressed tightly inside, then dipped in candle wax, cooked a meal…
FISH HARVEST SUCCESSFUL
Chandiwo Village, Malawi … Our Isuzu pulled away from the lodge in Lilongwe around 8:10 in the morning and headed north through the early morning traffic. Our destination was a few kilometers north of the Mponela Trading Center. The man-made reservoir was just west of M-1, which is the main highway north and south through…
ANNUAL MEETING IN WESTERN INDIANA
Marshall, Indiana … For the second year in a row the Board of Directors for the Malawi Project met for their annual board retreat at Turkey Run State Park near Marshall, Indiana. Members drove and flew in from the states of Washington, Colorado, Arkansas, and Indiana. Two speakers highlighted the event. Tracy Paul, owner and…
TRANSPORT COMPANY RECEIVES CONTAINER # 361
The threat of rain, and an early spring touch of cold, hung in the air as the tractor and 40-foot shipping container moved into position to receive the shipment for Malawi. The volunteers, those who would load the trailer, and those who had packed and prepared the pallets of goods, moved closer to the action…
MALAWI PRESIDENT DECLARES FOOD EMERGENCY
Lilongwe, Malawi … Following neighboring Zambia President Hakainde Hichilem who recently declared a state of emergency because of drought conditions in his country, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has declared a State of Disaster in 23 of Malawi’s 28 districts. An estimated two million people face possible starvation because of the lack of rain, or in…
VINES CLIMB INTO EXAMPLES
Written in 1734 the English imaginary tale of Jack and the Beanstock tells the story of a poor, young, farm boy who sees a vine climbing high into the sky. It is so high he cannot see the top, as it disappears into the heavens. He climbs the stock and faces multiple challenges. The moral of…
WHEN TRAGEDY STRIKES NEXT DOOR
Lusaka, Zambia … When a hailstorm, windstorm, or catastrophic flood strikes your next-door neighbor you are seldom, if ever, unscathed from a measure of damage yourself. This is true in times of famine or natural disasters in sub-Saharan Africa. For Malawi, what happens to its neighbors, especially Zambia, has several ramifications. Not only are natural…
“NOT ALL DAY’S ARE SUNDAYS”
Lilongwe, Malawi … Several years ago, when faced with a difficult project that was not turning out as expected, a wise Malawian smiled and said, “All days are not Sundays.” More than once his words have proven prophetic when a particular project did not reap the expected results, took longer than expected, or needed realignment to bring…
DOWA DISTRICT STORMS
Dowa District, Malawi … The rains came down in torrents, washing away crops, damaging the fragile mud construction of village huts, and sections of M-5, the tarmac link between the lakeshore trading center of Salima, and the commercial center of Blantyre were washed away. This was not Freddy, the catastrophic cyclone that struck southern Malawi…
THE NEED FOR SUPPLIES
It does little good to suggest a person should fish rather than being handed the fish if there are no resources for a fishing pole, line and sinker, bait, and a lake or pond with fish. In many cases, the intense poverty of Malawi makes it impossible to subscribe to more modern methods when they…