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Can Less Be More? The Power of Conservation Agriculture Through the Lens of the Makwelero Steps in Malawi [CASE STUDY]

on  August 5, 2024

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: 

  1. Insights and data on the impact of the project interventions.
  2. Identification of project successes and shortcomings through the comparative analysis of conservation agriculture and conventional agriculture results in Karonga and Mzimba. 
  3. 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.

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About the Author

Rise Against Hunger is driven by the vision of a world without hunger. We are growing a global movement to end hunger by empowering communities, nourishing lives and responding to emergencies.

More Posts by Rise Against Hunger

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.