As of December, SFHC and other partners have completed seed distribution to the 4000 new participating households of the MAFFA (Malawi Farmer-to-Farmer Agroecology) project. This year’s seed included a range of varieties of pigeon pea, groundnut (peanut), bambara groundnut, beans, and for the first time, finger millet! Finger millet, a drought tolerant and nutritious grain, is pest resilient and useful for years of inconsistent rain, and good for combating child malnutrition.

We based our selections on what we learned from the seed fairs held in August. Fairs were held in both locations (Lobi and Ekwendeni), where farmers brought and displayed their preferred local varieties of several crops. An informal discussion was conducted to decide which varieties farmers were most interested in, and once we had chosen which ones to distribute, households selected their preferences. This is the first year that we have been able to learn from farmer knowledge through the seed fairs, and we are excited to see the results in the coming season.