Farmer-led Research for Food Security and Nutrition in Malawi
Malawi Farmer-to-Farmer Agroecology (MAFFA)
The Malawi Farmer-to-Farmer Agroecology project (or MAFFA) was carried out between 2012 and 2017, as a collaboration between Ekwendeni Hospital (both the SFHC project and Ekwendeni Hospital AIDS Program), Western University, Chancellor College (University of Malawi), the University of Manitoba and Cornell University.
The
project used farmer-to-farmer teaching about agroecology, nutrition and local
food market development to improve food security, nutrition and livelihoods of
over 6000 farm families in Malawi over five years. Food insecure women, men and
youth learned from fellow farmers about ways to sustainably manage their soils,
increase diversity and amount of food and improve young children’s nutrition
through the project. The project took place in two main locations: northern
Malawi in Mzimba District, north of Ekwendeni; and Dedza District, in central
Malawi. The Government of Canada, through the Department of Foreign Affairs,
Trade and Development, and the Canadian Food Grains Bank supported this
project.
MAFFA
had five main objectives:
Objective
1:Agroecological methods to improve food security,
nutrition and soils: Improve food security, nutritional status and
sustainable agricultural practices of 6000 farming households in central and
northern Malawi.
Objective
2: Participatory, farmer-to-farmer model: Test the
potential for a farmer-to-farmer model of education for scaling up use of
agroecological methods in Malawi.
Objective
3: Local orange maize: Determine the potential for local
orange maize varieties as an acceptable socio-economic, cultural and biological
option to improve the vitamin A content of diets in Malawi.
Objective
4: Youth and farmer livelihoods: Extend the agroecological,
participatory approach to youth and farmer livelihoods, by using participatory
training methods in food processing and local food market development to
improve food security, dietary diversity and income for 200 youth and a farmer
association.
Objective
5: Gender Equality: Women from participating households
have greater access to resources and increased decision-making power over
agriculture, food security and income.
We are deeply saddened by the sudden losses of Penjani Kanyimbo and Godfrey Mbizi, who both passed away on Saturday, February 4th in a car accident. Both Penjani and Godfrey were longtime employees of SFHC. Penjani Kanyimbo was… Read More
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
Malawi Farmer-to-Farmer Agroecology (MAFFA)
The Malawi Farmer-to-Farmer Agroecology project (or MAFFA) was carried out between 2012 and 2017, as a collaboration between Ekwendeni Hospital (both the SFHC project and Ekwendeni Hospital AIDS Program), Western University, Chancellor College (University of Malawi), the University of Manitoba and Cornell University.
The project used farmer-to-farmer teaching about agroecology, nutrition and local food market development to improve food security, nutrition and livelihoods of over 6000 farm families in Malawi over five years. Food insecure women, men and youth learned from fellow farmers about ways to sustainably manage their soils, increase diversity and amount of food and improve young children’s nutrition through the project. The project took place in two main locations: northern Malawi in Mzimba District, north of Ekwendeni; and Dedza District, in central Malawi. The Government of Canada, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, and the Canadian Food Grains Bank supported this project.
MAFFA had five main objectives:
Objective 1: Agroecological methods to improve food security, nutrition and soils: Improve food security, nutritional status and sustainable agricultural practices of 6000 farming households in central and northern Malawi.
Objective 2: Participatory, farmer-to-farmer model: Test the potential for a farmer-to-farmer model of education for scaling up use of agroecological methods in Malawi.
Objective 3: Local orange maize: Determine the potential for local orange maize varieties as an acceptable socio-economic, cultural and biological option to improve the vitamin A content of diets in Malawi.
Objective 4: Youth and farmer livelihoods: Extend the agroecological, participatory approach to youth and farmer livelihoods, by using participatory training methods in food processing and local food market development to improve food security, dietary diversity and income for 200 youth and a farmer association.
Objective 5: Gender Equality: Women from participating households have greater access to resources and increased decision-making power over agriculture, food security and income.
Navigation
Follow and Share
Updates & News
In Memorial: Penjani Kanyimbo and Godfrey Mbizi
February 7, 2023
By rachel
We are deeply saddened by the sudden losses of Penjani Kanyimbo and Godfrey Mbizi, who both passed away on Saturday, February 4th in a car accident. Both Penjani and Godfrey were longtime employees of SFHC. Penjani Kanyimbo was… Read More
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