Promoting mixed farming system innovations in Malawi: A unified approach
CGIAR August 27 2024
“We are all targeting the same farmer,” noted Mr. Raphael Msyali, Chief Agriculture Officer for Mzimba District. Meanwhile, Mrs. Everlister Chidothi, a representative of Traditional Authority Mlumbe in Zomba District, emphasized the need to reach more farmers. These statements, though seemingly contrasting, highlight a common goal from field days in Mzimba and Zomba: the necessity of a unified, collaborative approach to farming systems. To effectively support farmers, organizations implementing diverse innovations must work together to bundle their complementary products and services, addressing farmers’ specific needs.
The CGIAR initiative on Mixed Farming Systems (MFS) field days held recently provided an ideal platform for CGIAR centers and partners to showcase mixed farming system innovations. Held in Chulu and Mtunthama EPAs in Kasungu District, Champhira EPA in Mzimba District, and Thondwe EPA in Zomba District, the events attracted about 1,940 participants, including 1,006 female farmers, 688 male farmers, and 246 children. These field days not only showcased core MFS innovations but also offered a broader platform for partners to exhibit complementary innovations and share knowledge on optimizing MFS benefits.
Strip cropping for enhanced food and nutrition security
Farmers in Malawi face severe land constraints and the impacts of climate change. To ensure food security, they often prioritize maize, leading to monocropping, which depletes soil nutrients and increases pest and disease incidences. In the 2023/24 season, the Alliance of Bioversity-CIAT, in collaboration with DARS, expanded strip cropping trials from two districts (Kasungu and Mzimba) to four, adding Balaka and Zomba. New partners, including NASFAM, Harvest Plus, and K2Taso, helped establish 304 baby trials, enabling farmers to experiment, learn, and share knowledge.
The “Mbili Mbili” strip cropping system combines two compatible legume species between maize rows, allowing women and youth with limited land to diversify their crops and increase resilience to climate variability and change. This system enhances nutritional diversity by incorporating staple carbohydrates from maize (nsima) alongside legumes that provide both grain and vegetable relish (ndiwo and ndiwo zamasamba) within the same plot. Because of this integration, the name “Nsima Ndiwo” was suggested as an alternative to Mbili Mbili. This method not only improves food security and nutrition but also enhances soil health and provides livestock feed, all without reducing maize yields. Moreover, the system includes biofortified crop varieties and innovative agronomic practices using inorganic fertilizers to improve the nutritional quality of crops for both human and livestock consumption.
Pangani Mitambo, a farmer in Thondwe EPA, Zomba, stated, “Intercropping maize and legumes has always been common for us, but the Mbili Mbili system offers distinct advantages. It supports our maize crop, yields a good crop of beans even during dry spells, and shows promising results with pigeon pea.”
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