Soils, Food and Healthy Communities

In the past couple of months, our Project Manager, Rowland Watipaso Mhone, has been busy setting up a special facility for Black Soldier Flies (BSF). This house is divided into sections to cater to the various stages of the BSF lifecycle, including eggs, larvae, pre-pupae, and adult flies. Organic waste will serve as nourishment for the larvae, ensuring a sustainable and eco-friendly approach.

Next, we’re fine-tuning the environment in the facility, making sure the temperature and humidity are just right for these helpful insects. Working closely with our community promoters, we will be on the lookout for farmers in our project areas, especially those involved in livestock farming, who want to be part of this exciting initiative. These farmers will get training in insect farming techniques, with the aim of producing top-notch animal feed and organic soil manure through BSF farming.

We are thrilled to announce that our director, Esther Lupafya, has been awarded the prestigious WWSF-Prize by the Women’s World Summit Foundation (WWSF). This award, known as the Women’s Creativity in Rural Life Prize, was established during the 4th World Conference on Women. It annually recognizes and honours the creativity, courage and compassion of 10 rural women leaders and groups worldwide who are dedicated to improving the quality of life in rural communities.

Join us in celebrating our director’s achievement and the incredible contributions of all WWSF laureates of 2023!

Meet the 10 WWSF Laureates 2023 – Congratulations!

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our supporters, sponsors and partners for making our continuing work and dedication possible!

We are excited to share a paper that was published in the Journal of Applied Ecology from research conducted in our FARMS for Biodiversity Project! The paper, published this past June 2023, includes several of our SFHC’s collaborators, and we are so happy to share the wonderful work of our team!

This paper focuses examined whether habitat type (whether woodland vs. farmland) affects butterfly community abundance, species richness, and species assmblages. The abstract can be found on the  Recent Publications page. You can also reach out to our research collaborator, Rachel Bezner Kerr (rbeznerkerr@cornell.edu), for a PDF copy of these papers!

Local and landscape scale woodland cover and diversification of agroecological practices shape butterfly communities in tropical smallholder landscapes

Cassandra Vogel, Vera Mayer, Mwapi Mkandawire, Georg Küstner, Rachel Bezner Kerr, Jochen Krauss, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter

This month, we had the pleasure of hosting our annual Community Seed Fair at our Research and Training centre in Ekwendeni. 131 farmers, hailing from 13 different working areas, gathered to showcase their diverse seeds, creating a vibrant display of agricultural richness. This event served as a valuable platform for knowledge exchange and the sharing of unique seed varieties among our dedicated farming community. In recognition of our commitment to preserving and enhancing local seed diversity, we awarded the best-performing areas. Criteria included not only the diversity of crops grown but also the farmers’ depth of knowledge about these varieties, including their names and related farming, marketing and nutrional attributes. The top spot was secured by Kavula area represented by the proficient agroecological female farmers, Mable Lungu and Walekire Mphepo (see picture). The second position was claimed by Edundu area, followed by a joint third position of Chisangano and Kaluholo area, and Luzi area taking forth. These deserving farmers received financial rewards, which they generously shared with their fellow community members. Furthermore, we expressed our gratitude to our community promoters who worked closely with these exceptional areas (see picture). The Seed Fair was a true highlight after this year’s harvest, fostering an atmosphere of companionship, knowledge exchange, and celebration. This collective spirit continues to motivate us in our ongoing collaborative endeavors.

Awarded farmers on the first place from Kavula area (top), awarded community promoters (bottom left) and dancing SFHC staff at the opening ceremony (bottom right).

Amidst the current dimba (garden) season, our permaculture garden is thriving. We’ve planted a variety of fresh vegetables, from leafy greens to juicy tomatoes, legumes, and maize. Besides the vegetables, our garden is brimming with fruits like papayas, guavas, and various bananas and citrus fruits.  Many of the vegetables have already found their way into our shared lunches at the center and are also sold to local vendors at our market in Ekwendeni. While there are no agroecological markets established yet, we’re hopeful to make some impact on that through our Harness Farms project.

Our dedicated team can be seen carefully grading seeds, a crucial step in our efforts to support our fellow farmers. Due to extreme weather conditions such as either drought or excessive rainfall this year, many crops have suffered, making it difficult for our farmers to produce enough seeds for the next planting season. Consequently, we had to travel very long distances to secure a variety of seeds, including beans, pigeon pea, cow peas, Bambara nuts, ground nuts, orange maize, finger millet and sorghum. The scarcity of seeds has also led to increased prices, prompting us to purchase non-graded pigeon pea seeds. However, our commitment to providing high-quality, germinating seeds to our farmers remains steadfast, as seen in this image, where we ensure that each seed meets our standards before distribution. The continued support from Biovision foundation helps us make a positive impact on local agriculture despite these challenges.

Check out this video that was produced within the “Seed & Knowledge Initiative” (SKI) in which we are taking part. It is a short animation video that gives an introduction to the Agroecology Landscape work that SKI has been pioneering in seven pilot sites in Southern Africa since 2021.

The SKI Agroecology Landscape project understands that concentrating solely on fields and farms isn’t enough to guarantee the sustainability of agroecological farming. It acknowledges the necessity for a comprehensive ecological strategy that fosters and rehabilitates the overall health of life both on and beneath the Earth’s surface across extensive geographical regions.

Here you can find more about SKI and the Agroecology Landscape Initiative

End of June, our director and co-director, Esther Lupafya and Laifolo Dakishoni, met with project coordinators and collaborators in Uganda to launch this new exciting project on sustainable waste-based insect farming – the “SWIFT project“.

The project aims to promote waste-based Black Soldier Fly (BSF) insect farming, converting biowaste into valuable larvae used as animal feed and insect manure as a soil amendment. This approach encourages recycling and reduces environmental impact while creating new livelihood opportunities, desirably for women and youth farmers or entrepreneurs.  We will particularly be involved in the co-development of insect farming designs, equipment, and operational strategies to establish flexible frameworks and execute pilot programs.

Our team has recently completed the preparatory land clearing, laying the foundation for upcoming construction activities. In the following week, we are set to initiate construction on the insect farming facility, a dedicated space where we will undertake the propagation of black soldier flies.

With lots of exotic food stuffs being introduced in Malawi, many people have lost a touch of indigenous food. Thanks to the Mzimba North DAECC¹ for introducing the yearly agricultural fair where farmers can come together showcase and trade their products and new technologies. This year’s agricultural fair’s theme was “Smallholder Commercialization; key to sustainable development”. The fair gave us an opportunity to showcase what our farmers are growing under the “Harness Farms Project”.

Through this project and part of the Northern Agroecology Collaborative (NAC) a consortium of three organizations; Soils Food and Healthy Communities, Slow Food Malawi and Biodiversity Conservation Initiative we are promoting agroecology in Northern Malawi by making initiatives for establishing agroecological markets where farmers in agroecology can sell their products at fair prices. The markets will be located in four locations; Mzuzu, Ekwendeni, Enukweni and Rumphi.

As a way of agreeing with DAECC’s theme, NAC showcased some of the local crops being grown with farmers from different locations without using synthetic fertilizer nor pesticides. From the displayed seeds, food was also prepared to show people it is possible to produce agroecological products that are marketable, healthy as well as delicious and many people rushed to the stand to have a taste of it.

¹ District Agricultural Extension Coordinating Committee

see the feature from Zodiac news minutes 33-35 (facebook page)

Our agribusiness officer, Tadala Mukhuna (right) together with some farmers that are taking part in this project, Martha Chirwa, Mable Lungu, Jeremia Nyirenda, Justice Chibalazi, Damascus Symon Maona, Alice Khunga and Thandiwe Zimba (from left to right).

We displayed and sold a variety of different fruits, cereals and legumes, as well a botanical pesticides and food produced from agroecological produce.

With immense sorrow, we share the heartbreaking news of the passing of our dear colleague and friend. With only 32 years, Tapiwa lost his life in tragic traffic accident, leaving us devastated. Having barely recovered from the loss of two colleagues earlier this year, this pain feels even more unbearable.

He was not just a hardworking and successful team member; he was a kind soul who touched us all. His dedication and involvement in numerous fruitful projects were inspiring. We will forever miss him and remember the impact he made.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his whole family and especially his wife and two-year-old daughter during this unimaginably difficult time. Let us unite as a community to provide unwavering support and solace to those who mourn his loss. Together, we will cherish the precious memories of our departed friend, finding strength in each other as we navigate through this profound grief.