AGRICULTURE 21
WEDNESDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 2026 | THE NATION | www.mwnation.com
SMART AGRICULTURE
TEMWA MHONE
Correspondent
For three years now, Gertrude Mwachumu, 35, from Sikamu Village, Traditional Authority ( T/A) Mlumbe in Zomba, has enjoyed three meals a day.
While crop harvests fell due to prolonged dry spells, the mother of four harvested 30 bags and a granary full of maize last growing season.
“Since 2006, I hardly harvested enough on barren soils due to environmental degradation,” she recounts.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations reports that loss of top nutrient soils and rapid deforestation impede sustainable agriculture production in Malawi, exacerbating the vulnerability of subsistence farmers who heavily rely on rain-fed agriculture amid climate change.
Erratic rainfall, flooding and prolonged dry spells affect crop production in the shadow of Zomba Mountain where Mwachumu’s one-acre maize plot was gullied by raging run-off, reducing her yield to a 50-kilogramme bag by 2019.
“Most rains resulted in raging runoffs that forced us to replant maize, but the second crop could fail because of erratic rainfall and dry spells,” she says.
In 2019, nearly 1.9 million Malawians experienced hunger due to floods and prolonged dry spells that reduced yields.
However, Mwachumu’s yield surged to 21 bags in 2020. Today, she produces nearly thrice that amount and sells the surplus to acquire basic needs.
Lydia Yakobe, 30, of T/A Ntchema in Chiradzulu, says she has been toiling in vain as yields kept dwindling due to erratic rains and hailstorms.
The mother of five could get only six bags of maize, which lasted at least three months.
“We starved despite applying fertilisers and doing all the farm work. The harvest couldn’t take my family to the next harvesting season,” she says.
Rainstorms frequently washed Yakobe’s crops away, burying her field in silt.
However, her harvest swelled from six to 25 bags in 2020. She now harvests 55 bags.
Both women say integrated land and watershed management activities help them harvest more from their small plots amid climate change.
Communities around Zomba Mountain are implementing sustainable land management practices, including climate-smart agriculture, under the Malawi Watershed Services Improvement Project (Mwasip), funded by the World Bank.
Farmers have constructed swales, check dams, deep trenches and eyebrow basins to slow and harvest rainwater. They have built stone bunds along slopes, planted trees and encouraged natural forest regeneration.
Mwasip engages communities through grant schemes to promote land and water conservation interventions to address environmental degradation, where over 25 of the 45 hectares of degraded land have been reversed.
Malawi has pledged to restore 4.5 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.
Through the National Climate Change Management Policy, National Water Policy and National Agriculture Policy, the government supports gender and equitable inclusion in environmental conservation and climate-smart agriculture for sustainable development.
The interventions also contribute to the African Union’s Agenda 2063 targets for sustainable development and climate-resilient livelihoods.
Finyamatumbo Village Natural Resources Management Committee chairperson Alfred Mponda says the structures have strengthened their resilience to devastating climatic shocks.
“Rainwater that used to damage our fields and property now sinks into the ground. We have slowed the run-offs improving retention of water in soils for our crops to thrive,” he says.
Mponda harvests 59 bags of maize from an acre that used to give him 10.
Beyond physical land restoration, the rural farmers have embraced conservation agriculture, including manure use.
They make Bokash manure by mixing one bucket of ash, three 15-litre buckets of dung dead plants and 10-litres of water. The mixture is ready for use within 14 days.
They also mix 10 kilogrammes (kg) of animal dung, 10 kg of fertiliser, 20 kg of ash with 10 kg of maize bran to make Mbeya manure, which is ready for use in 21 days.
“Manure enhanced my soil texture, fertility and moisture retention which help maize survive dry spells,” Mwachumu says.
The farmers get weather forecasts that help them make big decisions, including growing suitable crop varieties.
Yakobe’s household of six now grows early- maturing and local drought-tolerant maize, cassava, pigeon peas and potato.
“I have surplus that I sell to provide my family with basic needs,” she says. “Having seen the effects of environmental degradation, we are leaving no stone unturned to restore green cover that has increased our crop yields by improving soil health.”
Thondwe agriculture extension development officer Shepherd Numeri is pleased that communities haunted by impacts of climate change have adopted sustainable land management practices to safeguard their livelihoods and incomes.
“They have intensified conservation efforts such as tree planting and beekeeping to protect forests because they know the link between a protected environment and sustainable development,” he says.
However, the lack of land and low awareness affects the adoption of the interventions.
“Some people refuse to dig rain-harvesting trenches in their fields because it reduces planting space,” he says.
Participatory Ecological Land Use Management national coordinator Wendy Bilima, says the practices have improved food and nutrition security by supporting bumper harvests.
“Effects of climate change threaten food systems, but these practices enhance resilience by restoring soil fertility, agroforestry and conserving biodiversity. Our farmers are thriving amid climate change,” she says.
Mwasip technical team member Osward Mulenga says land and water conservation are pivotal to breaking the cycle of hunger, building resilience and sustaining community development.
“The good thing is the community-led implementation plan that ensures sustainability of the interventions,” he notes.
* This story was produced with support from IDRC and MESHA through the Action Research for Effective Coverage of Climate Change issues in Africa project.
