Anaphiri in her garden. Photograph courtesy of Ecology Action.
By David Braughton
Malawi is among the least developed countries in the world, with little by way of infrastructure and nearly 80 percent of the population living in rural areas where they are engaged in subsistence farming. The name Malawi comes from the Maravi, an old name for the Chewa people who inhabit the area. It is a landlocked nation, bordered on the east by Lake Malawi, the world’s fifth largest freshwater lake by volume, and ninth largest by size. Malawi’s terrain is varied, with mountains in the north and lowlands in the south. Until recently, tropical rains would soak the land between November and April, followed by a dry season running from May to October. In the past 20 years, the country has been racked by devastating floods and long periods of drought.
BGR has supported projects from the U.S.-based nonprofit Ecology Action and its GROW BIOINTENSIVE (GB) agricultural system in Malawi since 2015.
Although farming is Malawi’s primary industry, agriculture only constituted 36 percent of the country’s 2021 GDP of $12.63 billion USD, mostly due to a lack of infrastructure and technology as well as government corruption and mismanagement. According to the Global Food and Nutrition Security Dashboard, 81 percent of Malawi residents experience moderate to severe food insecurity daily, with 19 percent of all children, women, and men classified as undernourished. Residents also suffer from a low life expectancy, high infant mortality, and widespread HIV/AIDS.
In an effort to become more self-sustaining while generating more crops for sale, the government in 2006 launched a subsidy program to encouraged farmers to purchase commercial fertilizers and seeds from U.S. agribusinesses. In actuality, production fell. Meanwhile, U.S. agribusiness took over the government seed company, selling only patented seeds—virtually stomping out local varieties—and its lobbyists passed a law making it a criminal offense for farmers to harvest, save, and exchange their own seeds.
Adding to their problems, farmers, who lacked the technology and equipment to use the fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides safely, experienced increased health problems; illnesses such as kidney disease, cancer, asthma, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease have been scientifically attributed to pesticide use and misuse.
The introduction of GROW BIOINTENSIVE techniques in 2015 through a grant from BGR was intended to offer smallholder, subsistence farmers an alternative to the practices derived from agribusiness. Most farmers simply couldn’t afford the expense of fertilizers and costly GMO seeds. Yet they were caught in a bind: Once fertilizers and commercial seeds were used, the land had become stripped of essential nutrients, so that when farmers returned to traditional agricultural techniques, production declined sharply.
The GROW BIOINTENSIVE system was started by Alan Chadwick, who introduced the basic concepts of the biodynamic/French intensive method to the U.S. in 1966. Ecology Action was launched in 1971 to continue Chadwick’s work. Its vision, albeit ambitious, was simple and straightforward:
“Our work grew out of a concern about worldwide starvation and malnutrition. If we could determine the smallest amount of land and resources needed for one person to supply all of his or her needs in a sustainable way, we might have a personal solution to these challenges.”
GROW BIOINTENSIVE employs a variety of techniques that work well on smallholder farms, are easily adapted to a variety of climates, are ecologically sound, and can easily be taught to aspiring farmers. These include double digging or deep soil penetration to preserve moisture; use of compost to provide cover and add nutrients; spacing plants close together; growing crops that are high in calories; using open-pollinated seeds (which are native to the area and not genetically modified); and “treating all of the elements as parts of a whole system with a focus on long-term, ‘closed system’ sustainable soil fertility.”
Ecology Action introduced the GB system in Malawi in 2015 with the establishment of the Mbowe demonstration farm in Mzuzu. Women and men who are interested in learning the methods come to the farm, where they work alongside experts to learn the basics firsthand. After participants return home, the leaders of the demonstration farm visit the participants to see how they are doing and to offer advice. Many of the participants, in turn, become “lead farmers” who teach others in their communities how these techniques can improve their crop yields and even produce some extra for sale at the local market. Dozens of villages and communities and literally thousands of subsistence farmers have now been trained in GB methods, with resulting crop yields many times over what they had been able to produce previously.
Fewer malnourished families was only one of the results. Women have been among the approach’s biggest adopters, giving them a measure of independence and status that they previously lacked. With the extra money they earn from selling their excess corn, tomatoes, or vegetables, they can afford medical care and to buy clothing for their children to attend school. One participant, Monica, also noted how Ecology Action’s project had impacted her family life:
“My relationship with my husband has always been quite fine. We haven’t experienced any serious problems, but what changed after the GB farming is that I feel equal. I have my financial resources, and it’s me who decides what to do with them. This makes me feel that I am on the same level as my husband. Generally, I feel I have more control over my life. I can plan better, and I rely on my own work and things I produce. It gives me more control.”
With the advent of climate change, worldwide inflation, the COVID pandemic, a growing rural population, and all the other issues burdening one of the world’s most underdeveloped nation, GB may well be the way the people of Malawi survive in the short term, and at the same time lay the groundwork for a better, more ecologically adaptive, and more sustainable future.
David Braughton is the vice-chair of Buddhist Global Relief. David has worked in human services for over 40 years in fields related to a range of human needs including refugee resettlement, employment, and youth services. He has a Masters in Social Work from the University of Chicago.
