Farmer-led Research for Food Security and Nutrition in Malawi
Expanding Food and Nutrition Security through Farmer Training — Biovision project
Period: November 2019 – October 2021 (2 years) Scale: 2000 farmers, 50% women, across 10 village areas, all surrounding the Farmer Research and Training Centre Summary of Project Activities: Expanding our ongoing work at SFHC, this project will:
Conduct training with 2000 participants on agroecological techniques (e.g. compost-making, intercropping, agroforestry and crop diversification):
Provide participants with a variety of indigenous and local seed varieties, selected for first-time agroecological farmers
Establishing two members of the Farmer Research Team (one man, one woman) in each participating village; FRT members act as points of support and contact for participants, meeting with each other and with participants monthly to discuss and work through challenges
Address gender inequity in agriculture:
50% of farmer participants and FRT leaders are women
Trainings include traditionally gender-segregated activities (e.g. food preparation), challenging gender roles and exploring benefits of redistributing labour
Facilitate difficult discussions about gender roles in the household and community
Build dormitories for farmer training and exchange:
Lastly, the project will allow us to expand our Farmer Research and Training Centre, which serves as the centre of our operations and a space for rural exchange, training and experimentation. We will construct dormitories onto our existing Centre, permitting farmers from remote communities as well as other countries to visit for knowledge exchanges. Ultimately, this will allow us to turn the Centre into a hub for agricultural innovation, training and community support.
FRT members run a bokashi fertilizer training, Fall 2020
Funded by: The Biovision Foundation for Ecological Development! Switzerland-based Biovision was founded in 1998 by Dr. Hans Rudolph Herren. The Foundation aims to support sustainable, healthy communities using ecological methods across Europe and Africa, with a strong focus on conserving biodiversity in tandem with gender equality and community health. We are delighted to be working with the Biovision Foundation for the first time with this project, and thrilled to see the results of our collaboration!
To learn more: We’d love to share more about our project beyond this brief summary! For further details, contact Esther Lupafya, Project Director at sfhc@gmx.com or dakishoni@gmail.com.
Lizzie Shumba joined SFHC in 2003 and since then has contributed much to our efforts and to the success of SFHC. The Agroecology and Livelihood Collaborative (ALC) from the University of Vermont conducted an interview with Lizzie to… Read More
The SFHC team and the communities we work with play a crucial role in helping us reach our goals of promoting sustainability, health, and equity, so we love to share the voices of the wonderful people that make… Read More
Exciting news: new research from our SFHC team has just been published! This research is centered around examining crop diversity and its effect on food security and women’s diet quality through an intervention in Malawi. As always, we… Read More
We are proud to share new research from our team within the last year! Both works come from our FARMS for Biodiversity Project, and they include a research approach to transdisciplinary agroecology and an assessment of local views… Read More
Expanding Food and Nutrition Security through Farmer Training — Biovision project
Period: November 2019 – October 2021 (2 years)
Scale: 2000 farmers, 50% women, across 10 village areas, all surrounding the Farmer Research and Training Centre
Summary of Project Activities: Expanding our ongoing work at SFHC, this project will:
Funded by: The Biovision Foundation for Ecological Development!
Switzerland-based Biovision was founded in 1998 by Dr. Hans Rudolph Herren. The Foundation aims to support sustainable, healthy communities using ecological methods across Europe and Africa, with a strong focus on conserving biodiversity in tandem with gender equality and community health. We are delighted to be working with the Biovision Foundation for the first time with this project, and thrilled to see the results of our collaboration!
To learn more: We’d love to share more about our project beyond this brief summary! For further details, contact Esther Lupafya, Project Director at sfhc@gmx.com or dakishoni@gmail.com.
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An interview with SFHC’s Lizzie Shumba!
October 20, 2022
By Nicole Velecela
Lizzie Shumba joined SFHC in 2003 and since then has contributed much to our efforts and to the success of SFHC. The Agroecology and Livelihood Collaborative (ALC) from the University of Vermont conducted an interview with Lizzie to… Read More
Take a look into SFHC’s work!
October 20, 2022
By Nicole Velecela
The SFHC team and the communities we work with play a crucial role in helping us reach our goals of promoting sustainability, health, and equity, so we love to share the voices of the wonderful people that make… Read More
New Research Paper: Sept. 2022
September 28, 2022
By Nicole Velecela
Exciting news: new research from our SFHC team has just been published! This research is centered around examining crop diversity and its effect on food security and women’s diet quality through an intervention in Malawi. As always, we… Read More
2 New Research Papers: 2022
September 23, 2022
By Nicole Velecela
We are proud to share new research from our team within the last year! Both works come from our FARMS for Biodiversity Project, and they include a research approach to transdisciplinary agroecology and an assessment of local views… Read More