NEWS:

2 Dec, 2016


Dr. Barbara Adolph talking to a lead farmer in Mwansambo EPA about conservation agricultural practices in his field.
In an effort to understand challenges faced by smallholder farmers to make critical decisions for achieving food and income goals, the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) through several experts is participating in research projects funded by the Department for International Development in UK. The International Institute for Environment and Development in UK is leading one of the projects, with Total Land Care (TLC) and Practical Action as local partners in the consortium. The “Sustainable intensification: Trade-offs for Agricultural Management (SITAM)” project is under an Africa-wide research Initiative-Sustainable Agriculture Intensification Learning in Africa- and will investigate in detail how smallholder farmers manage the trade-offs between production, sustainability, and other socio-economic and environmental factors.

The project, which is also being implemented in Burkina Faso and Ghana, will understand smallholder farmers’ current practices, enabling environment and livelihood outcomes within Mwansambo Extension Planning Area in Nkhota-kota. In addition, the research will understand the perceptions and vision of different types of farmers, including perceived trade-offs and synergies that affect livelihoods. It will explore how decision-making processes are influence by the enabling environment.

According to team lead and Principal Researcher of SITAM, Dr Barbara Adolph, the objective of the research is to change the knowledge and understanding of decision makers about sustainable intensification and help them understand better how farmers make choices about resource allocation. Barbara further explained that sustainable intensification means you’re trying to produce more with less, more efficiently and productive without expanding agriculture production to restricted or protected areas like forests. “Our project seeks to promote this in the most sustainable way that is socially just, economically viable and environmental friendly” said Dr Adolph.

Concurring with Barbara, the Country Co-investigator Dr David Mkwambisi, said that the project realizes how challenging resource allocation decisions can be especially that some of the policies are not based on how these farmers take decisions. “We hope that providing the right information to the decision makers will help in the development of appropriate policies and strategies by government and its development partners to support smallholder farmers” said Dr Mkwambisi.

The project will engage decision makers by allowing them access to the research information and taking part in the activities of the research in various study sites, while farmers will be included in the planned policy engagement processes of the project hence allowing farmers to directly engage with decision makers.

Dr Adolph indicated that the project aims to impact on policy change by providing policies recommendations that take into account the situation of different types of farmers. “If we succeed and document these findings we are also hoping that other donors and NGO may use this research to promote sustainable policies” stated Ndapile Bwanausi, project assistant from LUANAR.

Other projects that have been funded through the SAIRLA programme in Malawi include “Equity and Institutions in Sustainable Africa Intensification” led Lund University, “Achieving equitable benefits from SAI through more effective tools and metrics” led by IITA, and “SAIRLA: Smallholder Risk Management Solutions” led by Oxford Policy Management.



Written by Christie Kang’ombe