Soils, Food and Healthy Communities

A recent article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences highlights the critical role that agrobiodiversity plays in improving soil fertility, incomes and food security, while enhancing ecological sustainability and providing more stable yields. The… Read More

SFHC is highlighted on a recent radio programme on the BBC radio 4. Click on the following link to listen. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12061998 The broadcaster travelled to Malawi and highlighted the work of SFHC as a future alternative for Malawi…. Read More

Rachel Bezner Kerr, Peter Berti and Lizzie Shumba recently had an article published in Public Health Nutrition which documents the positive nutritional effects which SFHC has had on children’s growth, in villages which are actively involved in SFHC…. Read More

SFHC has been highlighted by the International Development Research Centre on their website: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-156175-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html An article in the magazine ‘Seedling’ also highlighted SFHC, including an interview with Enoch Chione, a participating farmer and SFHC community promoter (see cover… Read More

Two hundred farmers throughout Ekwendeni region tested sorghum and cowpea in 2009-2010 season as possible drought-tolerant crops to include in their farming system to increase food security. Farmers designed their own experiments to test the crops, some growing… Read More

SFHC held a planning meeting with colleagues from the Ekwendeni Hospital AIDS Programme, Bunda College of Agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the University of Western Ontario (Canada) and MALEZA in May 2010. We are launching… Read More

A group of sixteen Canadians, representing the Presbyterian Church in Canada, visited the SFHC project in August. Several healthy recipes were prepared by participating farmers in the presence of the visitors. Some of these were as follows:soya milk,… Read More

Lizzie Shumba and Rachel Bezner Kerr attended a policy workshop on soil fertility management and seed systems in Lilongwe, Malawi August 31-Sept. 1 2009. The workshop was organized by Bunda College of Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture… Read More

A participatory workshop was held in May 2009 with 60 farmer representatives as well as staff and representatives from the Ekwendeni Hospital AIDS Program. The workshop involved assessing challenges and achievements of the project over the last 3… Read More

Zacharia Nkhonya, Boyd Zimba, Rodgers Msachi and the members of the FRT have been pegging areas to collect yield data in 2009, and they have observed very healthy looking maize, and excellent legume fields. They think that the… Read More