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A Farming Success Story: Andrew’s Crop Yields and Livestock Support His Family’s Food Security

on  October 8, 2025

In northern Malawi’s Karonga district, 31-year-old Andrew lives with his wife, daughters and son. Like many in his village, he is a farmer. 

But farming in the region has its challenges. Climate change has caused inconsistent rainfall. With local farmers using rainfed agriculture methods, the lack of rain has caused harvests to dwindle and rates of food insecurity to climb. 

Andrew is one of the many farmers who saw lower harvests. Unable to fully support his family financially and nutritionally through farming, he began working multiple part-time jobs. But even with multiple sources of income, he struggled to make ends meet. 

In 2019, Andrew enrolled in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, implemented in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts by Rise Against Hunger and our in-country partner Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The sustainable agriculture project works to improve the food and nutrition security of 3,100 smallholder farmers and their families through an integrated approach of enhancing food production, nutrition practices and income. 

Project participants join lead farmer groups where they learn climate-resilient and labor-saving agriculture practices, establish village saving and lending associations, and receive support for their crops and livestock. Andrew was chosen to be a lead farmer, participating in trainings and cascading information and resources to the follower farmers in his group.  

One of the trainings Andrew participated in was about livestock management. With a long-standing interest in livestock but without the means to purchase animals, he was very passionate about the training. 

Andrew was one of the project participants selected to receive two female goats, and immediately put his new livestock management training skills to use. After successfully tending to his goats, they went on to birth to three kids (and counting!), which he sold and used the profits to buy food for his family. He has also passed along four goats to two follower farmers from the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, Jean and Edesi.

Edesi with goats she received from Andrew.

In addition to new skills and opportunities in livestock management, Andrew has participated in conservation agriculture, crop diversification and nutrition trainings, and joined a village saving and lending association. These trainings and activities have enabled Andrew to increase his crop yields, supporting his family’s food security. “I no longer complain of hunger,” he said. “The food that I have is enough to take me up to the next harvest.” 

As a role model in his community, Andrew wants to help other farmers increase their incomes from agriculture and livestock. He said, “My doors are now open and my dreams have been fulfilled by the project, and [I] am looking forward to helping all my follower farmers so that they can also enjoy the fruits of the program.’’

Impact like this is made possible by you — our Hunger Champions. Donate through our Shop Hope marketplace to give a goat that can help change the future for farmers like Andrew, or purchase a different Shop Hope item, to help make a lasting impact toward sustainable hunger relief around the world. 

About the Author

Hannah Payne is the Public Relations & Communications Manager at Rise Against Hunger. She facilitates communication between Rise Against Hunger and the media.

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.