1.0
Introduction
IntroductionNinety percent of Malawi’s rural population runs out of food four months before the next harvest. During these hungry months, the people spend 70 percent of their income on food.
Gusu has a population of 996 (October 2009 census), and farming is the major economic activity. Adequate food supply is the backborn for this community to develope. Without food, people in Gusu wont be able to go or send their children to school, be able to do any businesses as capital will be spent on food, be mulnourished and wont be able to do any community development project. That is why E-3 International puts food security a priority on its list of activities, thereby contributing towards the first Millennium Development Goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. In particular, E-3 International intends to support national efforts of halving, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
2.0 CURRENT INTERVENTIONS
To overcome these challenges, E-3 International is undertake the following strategies:
2.1Training in modern methods of agricultureThe majority of Vvillagers in are subsistent and less than 17 percent of them practice better land and crop husbandry. Although Malawi Government has extension workers who advise farmers on some modern methods, less than 15 percent of farmers have access to agricultural training. This is the huge gap that E-3 International aims at filling.
In partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and other non-governmental agencies, E-3 International sent three people for training programmes in agrobusiness. These farmers have in truen trained their fellow farmers how to use modern methords of farming as well as the need to farm cash crops. These modern agriculture methods will help them be able to harvest crops three to four times a year.
2.2IrrigationThe main goal of this intervention is to provide small scale farming households with the skills and technologies in irrigation to increase food production and increased household incomes. The intervention has three interrelated components that aim:
•to extend the area under small scale irrigation, water control and watershed management,
to extend the area under small scale irrigation, water control and watershed management,•to improve incomes and social conditions of the communities through intensification and diversification of farm production, and
to improve incomes and social conditions of the communities through intensification and diversification of farm production, and•to facilitate capacity building and institutional strengthening at community level.
to facilitate capacity building and institutional strengthening at community level.In the first phase of irrigation, E-3 International supported 31 families with water diversion irrigation and 35 families with treadle pump irrigation. For the first time in 2010, the community had food all year round. E-3 International intends to expand this program so that everyone who wants and can should participate. We will engage experts to design irrigation schemes suitable for each proposed site. Communities will then be supported with material to construct the irrigation schemes, and initial maintenance costs. They will be encouraged to form committees that will be responsible for collecting funds for the maintenance of the irrigation schemes from the farmers after harvest. Not only will irrigation ensure food availability all year round, it will also allow crop diversification.
2.3Encourage people to grow cash cropsMost villagers grow food crops for their household consumption, particularly maize (corn), with little or no harvest for sell. Subsistence farming keeps farmers poor, with little or no money to purchase food when their stock runs out or other amenities. E-3 International encourages the cultivation of cash crops such as soybean, groundnuts, vegetables and fruits amongst other cash crops. This will be through support with inputs for the cash crops, as well as technical support in their cultivation.
This page was last updated: July 14, 2011
