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Farmer experiences of Tiyeni's 'deep-bed farming' system in Malawi

Mvula, Albert and Dixon, Alan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9898-0806 (2020) Farmer experiences of Tiyeni's 'deep-bed farming' system in Malawi. Working Paper. University of Worcester. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Despite significant progress in recent years Malawi remains one of the world’s poorest countries, ranking 172 out of 189 countries on the UNDP’s Human Development Index (UNDP, 2019) and with half of its 18 million inhabitants living below the national poverty line. While agriculture generates over 90% of export earnings and up to 40% of Gross National Income, an estimated 80% of the population continue to be engaged in subsistence agriculture under the customary land tenure system (World
Bank, 2019; ADB, 2019). Beyond the production of the export crop tobacco, agriculture in Malawi is dominated by smallholder maize production, which provides up to 60 per cent of the daily calorific intake of the average Malawian (Ortega et al. 2016). Within the smallholder maize production system, however, yields remain relatively low (only 20% of potential yields) mainly as a result of the persistent use of local seed varieties, the lack of availability and affordability of fertiliser, poor markets, and a range of environmental challenges which subsistence farmers must continuously adapt to. Food insecurity is, therefore endemic; famine is a regular occurrence in many areas and an estimated 33% of the population live in a state of very low poor security characterised by irregular quantities and frequencies of food intake (FAO, 2014).

Item Type: Report (Working Paper)
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A pdf of the report (working paper) is available to download from this WRaP record.

Uncontrolled Discrete Keywords: Tiyeni, Malawi, deep-bed farming system, crop production, traditional agriculture, smallholder farmers, SERG
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography
Divisions: College of Health, Life and Environmental Sciences > School of Science and the Environment
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Alan Dixon
Date Deposited: 28 Apr 2020 08:59
Last Modified: 30 Nov 2020 15:59
URI: https://eprints.worc.ac.uk/id/eprint/9382

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