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

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).