“Make this desert a garden is our mandate from God.”
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so the saying by Chinese Philosopher Confucious goes. Our agroforestry journey started when we were visited by Roland Frutig an agroforestry expert from Switzerland 4 years ago.
Roland Frutig described Agroforestry as a solution to environmental problems, such as land degradation and the accompanying loss of soil carbon and fertility, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, overdraft of and threats to the long-term supply of water, and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to many social ills, such as rural exodus, the concentration of power among only a few agribusiness corporations, increased risks related to climate change, and increasing malnutrition.
We visited a highly successful agroforestry site in Malawi that is helping to restore degraded sloping land and improve farmers’ incomes. We give thanks to Roland Frutig and Marlon Christ for making this eye opening trip to Mitongwe Woodlands Reserve possible. We also managed to visit the Beetle Bistro Ecology Centre in Blantyre.
The learning experience…..
The steep upland farming areas of Malawi face challenges in establishing sustainable agricultural practices that improve livelihoods and the environment.
Our journey was to learn, observe, share knowledge and learn from the experiences of our hosts who have been working with farmers in the steeply sloping landscapes of Malawi. Local farmers and people representing different organisations in Malawi and from 10 different countries travelled to Mitongwe Woodlands reserve in Malawi to explore an array of well-developed agroforestry systems, demonstration sites, plantations and nurseries. The visitors learned how the various systems have contributed to increased food security, income stability, water availability and reduced soil erosion.
As well as designing and establishing the systems with farmers and government extension officers, the Eden Project has been working with farmers to monitor changes in soil erosion following the adoption of agroforestry practices. Cultivating on a steep gradient is something that communities across Malawi were familiar with. However, the associated issues of soil and wind erosion were not easy to mitigate.
We were first shown two -year-old Vetri and Brazilian agroforestry systems.
Hard evidence is very important and for us seeing is believing. If people at both the national and local levels can see how agroforestry can be of benefit to crop production, especially by addressing soil and wind erosion issues which many farmers suffer from, it would encourage wider adoption of agroforestry in our countries.
The successful agroforestry demonstration sites we visited at the Eden Project (Mitongwe Woodlands Reserve) revealed how agroforestry systems can increase land-use efficiency for smallholders by increasing the productivity per area unit.
African countries could reap the benefits of such simple yet effective agroforestry systems to produce a diverse range of products on small areas of land.
The role of agroforestry in improving livelihoods is particularly relevant to our African countries because it is experiencing increased out-migration from rural areas.
We hope that agroforestry will encourage the return of urban migrants to farms. If agroforestry can be demonstrated as a land-use system that can provide sustainable sources of income and sustainable land cultivation, it could help address poverty and many national environmental concerns.
Mangwende Orphan Care Trust Zimbabwe recognizes the importance of establishing long-term relationships and collaboration with district and community organizations to enable the sustainable implementation of agroforestry in our rural communities. Agricultural and forestry extensionists or rural advisors are a key component of such relations. At the Mitongwe Woodlands reserve we had the chance to speak with an extensionist at the field sites who was also a student to better understand their role as communicators of technical advice and guidance to, and between, farmers. Extensionists are clearly very valuable when it comes to building cohesion between the agricultural and forestry sectors. We learned that there were many different stakeholders, including experts, involved in the process of enabling agroforestry on the ground. Our visit to the field sites showed that agroforestry systems differ depending on the type of landscape and that the needs of farmers in those landscapes must always be prioritized.
Now after our visit to the Mitongwe Woodlands Reserve we now know that when properly applied, agroforestry can improve livelihoods through enhanced health and nutrition, increased economic growth, and strengthened environmental resilience and ecosystem sustainability. Integrating trees in arable crops and livestock systems makes agroforestry a win for sustainable food production and the natural environment.
Now back in the village…..
We have a 3 year plan to establish an Agroforestry Transition Hub or agroforestry training facility that will also serve as a local community nursery provisioning tree seedlings, a school offering training and networking for rural farmers interested in newly adopting or expanding agroforestry, an online platform to track and publicize farmer progress and monitoring, and a body of research that will use an interdisciplinary mixed method approach to enhance the relevance, agro ecological benefits, and success of agroforestry systems.
In year one, we will focus on developing our training center and implementing agroforestry systems in one village on land that is communally owned, within Ward 27 in Murewa District, in years two and three, we will expand our programming to include more villages. If we succeed, people will replicate the systems at household level.
Performance targets:
As a direct result of our work, agroforestry will be adopted by 16 villages on a minimum of 1 hectare resulting in the development of an agroforestry hub and 16 farmer field schools in Ward 27. The hub will act as source of resources for catalysing further agroforestry uptake. Farmers will receive seedlings and support to bolster on-farm climate resilience measured programmatically by soil health indicators. Our target is 9000 farmers reached through peer-peer networking and measurable improvements in soil water infiltration for 75% of the 16 villages participating in the training program.
Our work now is to support farmers at every stage of their journey towards learning and adopting agroforestry as nature-friendly farming.
Our mission is to take agroforestry farming to a new level, making it mainstream.
We want to see a farming future where:
- All farmers can produce safe healthy food and get a fair price for it
- Our land will be productive for future generations
- Our water and air are clean
- A new international trade regime doesn’t expose farmers to the sort of cut-price competition that will drive us towards more harmful ways of farming both land and livestock
- All farmers can access support for farming in ways that benefit nature
- All farmers are rewarded for the public benefits they deliver through the management of multifunctional, ecologically resilient landscapes
- All farmers play a major role in helping nature’s recovery
- All farmers play a part in tackling climate change by preventing dangerous flooding and mitigating the worst impacts of drought
What we intend to do
We will share farm-level knowledge of whole-farm approaches that restore rural environments, regenerate ecosystems, protect biodiversity, act on climate change and offer greater resilience to natural or economic shocks.
Evans Mangwende
&
Tinei Mangwende
Mangwende Orphan Care Trust
Mangwende Orphan Care Trust 
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