Malawi Permaculture

Permaculture is becoming quite renowned. It is a way of farming that involves a minimum of distirbance to the natural environment.

Permaculture is a process we have been using for a more sustainable food production among communities in Malawi.

The idea came in our discussions in the Malawi-US Exchange Alumni Association.

When somebody comes back from an exchange program, they share what they learned and challenges that they see in Malawi that they would like to address from the lessons that they got from the US.

I was interested in what I saw in South Carolina. There was a lot of sustainable crop production.

We involved the communities and got the people together and explained to them what we were trying to do and asked for a piece of land where we could demonstrate what permaculture was all about.

Permaculture mimics what happens naturally, so there is very little inorganics.

This is important for the communities that we are working with because they do not have a lot of income and they even don't have a lot of land.

From the little piece of land that they've got, they should be able plant many plants that will support each other.

Permaculture involves a minimum of labor, which is very good for those who are sick or women who have so many other more important responsibilities.

It is a concept that has been very well received by the communities where we promoted it in Malawi.

At the end of that season, we were able to have a lot of crops. The community was very surprised.