This presentation by Prof. Sosten Chiotha and others, LEAD, describes the landscape mosaic in Malawi, why investing in conservation agriculture and off-farming activities is a must and how we can rethink investment.

1. Investing in small holder
agriculture in Malawi to
improve performance by
scaling up conservation
agriculture
Prof., Sosten Chiotha*, Dr Dalitso
Kafumbata, Dr Daniel Jamu,
Mathews Tsirizeni, & Welton
Phalira
*Leadership for Environment and Development
(LEAD), Zomba, Malawi

2. Landscape mosaic in Malawi
 Landscape
mosaic, gradually more
fragmented(last 100 yrs),
 Agriculture, human settlements,
main cause of fragmentation
 1991-1973 forest cover decline: 45 to
25.3 % and continues
 High population growth, the main
driver of landscape change
 Population trebled to13 million (1966
to 2008), projected growth rate is 2.9%

3. Declining natural resource
base
84 % employment natural resource based:
agriculture, forestry, fishery are key sectors
 All 3 sectors declining in productivity due
to unsustainable practices
 More than 40% smallholders own <0.5ha,
average farm size is 0.28ha
 Farming system is essentially low input and
low output
 Fallow, crop rotation, mixed cropping,
integrated with livestock production are
limited or non – existent


4. Investing in conservation
agriculture a must!!!
Climate
change has made the situation
worse : erratic rainfall, prolonged dry
spells and other extreme weather
events
Severely degraded landscapes with
diminishing ES leave many rural
communities in persistent food
shortages and poverty

5. Investing in conservation
agriculture a must!!!
 CA
is one approach to address the
challenges to achieve sustainable production
and improve livelihoods
 Uptake of CA is low to achieve scale of
restoring ecosystem services
 Investment through the small-holder
households, likely to break the vicious cycle
of environmental degradation, low
agricultural production and poverty

6. Arable land per capita decline vs
Cereal demand/supply

7. Land cover decline over 20 years

8. An example of a plot under
conservation agriculture

9. Need for investment into off-farm activities
to shift unsustainable use of marginal and
fragile ecosystems

10. Estates in southern Malawi showing
intensity of production, hedgerows and
forest reserve as required by law for
estates. Also notice land under fallow
The small holder tea farmers belong to an
association and hence there is potential for
investment in addressing small holder land use
challenges to achieve scale at landscape

11. Contrasting land uses by small holder
farmers and estates in southern Malawi
Land use by small holder farmers. Notice the small
landholdings, the variation in crop density/quality,
location of trees, human settlements

12. Rethinking investment
 Government:
move from input-subsidies to more
integrated incentives that support landscape
sustainability(e.g. PES, sustainable rural economic
growth)
 Private sector: support value addition, viable
cooperatives of small-holders,
 Banks & lenders: providing small-holders with better
access to financial services (savings, credit, etc.)
 Donors/development partners: more flexibility in
approach to address difficult trade offs small holder
farmers make that compromise landscape quality
of services( essential for long-term livelihoods)

13.  WLE:
Acknowlegdements
Support to attend GLF
 Lake Chilwa Basin Climate Change Adaptation
programme: supported by the Royal Norwegian
Embassy in Malawi.
 ASSETS: supported by ESPA UK through DFID
 Participatory GIS in Malawi. Donors/development
partners: Funded by IDRC
 Population and climate change: Funded by
Population Action International
 Malawi state of Environment and outlook report