Can Less Be More? The Power of Conservation Agriculture Through the Lens of the Makwelero Steps in Malawi [CASE STUDY]
With more than 50% of its population living in poverty, Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is also a country heavily reliant on agriculture, with the sector serving as the the primary source of income for a large percentage of the country’s population. However, land degradation, the adverse effects of climate change, inflation on food prices and limited access to services all contribute to persistent food and nutrition insecurity issues among Malawi’s rural population, particularly smallholder farmers.
To address these challenges and support long-term food security in Malawi, Rise Against Hunger and in-country partner Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS) implement the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project in the Karonga and Mzimba districts. Working with smallholder farmers, the project uses an integrated approach with the goal to improve food production, nutrition practices and income. The project uses targeted interventions and capacity-building activities to promote sustainable farming practices and conservation agriculture techniques.
In 2022, the project also developed and began utilizing the Makwelero steps, a phased approach for implementing the project’s interventions to ensure participants gain actionable knowledge and skills over time.
In the case study below, Rise Against Hunger’s senior monitoring and evaluation manager assesses the effectiveness of the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project and evaluates the implementation of the Makwelero steps to support the project’s objectives. An in-depth analysis provides:
- Insights and data on the impact of the project interventions.
- Identification of project successes and shortcomings through the comparative analysis of conservation agriculture and conventional agriculture results in Karonga and Mzimba.
- Recommendations for how to approach agriculture initiatives with localized consideration of knowledge, attitude and practice to achieve effective change.
Download the case study for our analysis of the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, recommended strategies for improving future initiatives and insights that can support policy decisions, guide resource allocation and be applied to agricultural projects in Malawi and other countries.