Assessing on-farm impacts of the deep bed farming system on soil and water conservation, and maize yields among smallholder farmers in Malawi

Mvula, Albert, Dixon, Alan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9898-0806 and Maddock, Ian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5072-8700 (2025) Assessing on-farm impacts of the deep bed farming system on soil and water conservation, and maize yields among smallholder farmers in Malawi. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 23 (1). pp. 1-20. ISSN 1473-5903 (Print) / 1747-762X (Online)

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Abstract

Malawi's vulnerability to climate change and declining soil fertility underscores the need for climate-smart, soil-conserving agricultural practices. In Malawi, the deep bed farming (DBF) system offers promising solutions for smallholder farmers facing these challenges. This study evaluated the effectiveness of DBF in improving soil and water conservation and maize productivity in Malawi. On-farm assessments and farmer interviews revealed that the DBF reduces soil erosion by over 50% while increasing maize yields by 51% compared with conventional ridge-based (CR) farming. These results showcase the DBF’s capability to meet farmers' short-term food security needs while mitigating soil degradation through erosion. DBF also showed consistently greater organic matter, organic carbon and phosphorus contents (19.8%, 22% and 28.7%, respectively), indicating that DBF has the potential to improve and conserve soil fertility in Malawi. The variability in farmers' adherence to essential DBF practices, such as crop residue retention and manure application, indicates a need for a tailored approach to DBF promotion focusing on site-specific suitability and locally driven adaptive learning among farmers. Moreover, caution is necessary when providing input support to avoid dependency and ensure that farmers focus on the core features of DBF.

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