Rachel Bezner-Kerr has spent a decade tearing down walls between neighbouring farmers in Malawi. Now she hopes to rebuild a few.
The University of Western Ontario assistant professor in geography looks to build on a decade of research to construct a Farmer Research and Training Centre which would continue to foster collaborative learning and exchange among farmers, students and researchers in Northern Malawi. She has requested $50,000 in funding to construct a modest facility, enough to accommodate 10 people with an office and meeting room.
“Even if we don’t have a building,” she says, “we have been operating as a farmer research and training centre.”
Bezner-Kerr studied international development/environmental resource management as an undergrad at the University of Toronto. During that time she worked for a development organization, providing agricultural support to farmers. Afterward, she pursued a master’s degree in soil science at the University of Guelph.
“I wanted to work with farmers on something useful to them,” she says, “and I have always been fascinated by southern Africa.”
Bezner-Kerr made contact with organizations in Malawi and Zimbabwe, and ended up in Malawi beginning research with an organization on locally available organic alternatives to commercial fertilizer in family gardens.
It has been a fertile relationship ever since.
Established in 1891, the British protectorate of Nyasaland became the independent nation of Malawi in 1964. A democracy only since 1994, following three decades of dictatorship, this nation of 15 million people remains a vulnerable. The government has been decimated by structural readjustments, specifically international economic policies promoted by the International Monetary Fund. Health care, education and agricultural supports have been stripped over the last two decades.
Bezner-Kerr collaborates with Ekwendeni Hospital, University of Malawi and Mzuzu University to build a sustainable future through agriculture in response to numerous social ills.
“The hospital in the area had been seeing a rising number of kids dying from malnutrition, severe malnutrition, so they were interested in exploring alternatives to commercial fertilizer,” she says. “So the link between kids nutrition and unaffordable inputs and the passion for working with local farmers, that all kind of combined on Malawi.”
Corn, with small amounts of beans, squash and ground nuts, were grown on small family plots, typically one hectare per family. Most families counted on these plots as both a food source and financial support.
“When we started the project, the country was in economic crisis and it was a really hard time for farmers,” says Bezner-Kerr, who began her research in 2000.
Farmers had been encouraged by government and international agencies to incorporate fertilizers into the production. “So farmers had come to rely on fertilizers, and fertilizer had been subsidized, and that subsidy was removed in the 1990s,” she says. That lead to the price of fertilizer skyrocketing.
“So they had to turn to alternatives,” Bezner-Kerr continues. “In some ways, we were going back to ways their grandparents had been doing, or their parents, in terms of using organic material. But we are also introducing new ways of growing.”
She brought different, if not new, methods into the conversation. She explored growing crops together that fix nitrogen, two edible legumes, pigeon pea and groundnut/soy bean. Then, after the harvest, incorporating the residue (leaves, stem, roots) back into the earth for the next season.
“That was new, something they hadn’t done before,” she says. “It was really a simple practice. But it was a change trying to rely on things they could do produce themselves, things they could access themselves.”
She wanted to do participatory research with farmers on their fields, where the farmers would then turn around and teach other farmers. While not unique, it has been a successful model in other areas.
“We wanted them to spearhead the research,” Bezner-Kerr says.
The farmers formed a Farmer Research Team. “They really took the leadership role and ran with it,” she says.
Local farmers helped organize other farmers, visited still other farmers testing the various options. Starting with 30 farmers, it grew to 200 and now thousands. “Because they are such active leaders,” Bezner-Kerr credits, “we want to take that and make this a centre where other farmers can come and learn from them.”
Today, the farmers are driving the research in new directions.
“Increasingly, our attention is turned toward climate change adaptation. These legumes are one way to adapt, because farmers are building up the soil. So if you have a bad year your soils are more likely to withstand that,” Bezner-Kerr says. “But we would like to explore other options farmers could explore in times of drought or flooding. Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to be the hardest hit by climate change, so we are testing different drought-tolerant crops that are indigenous to the area and exploring other options. So it’s not just soil fertility now.
“That expansion came from farmer interest.”
So, too, did exploring viable food security options of AIDS-impacted families. “They have more labour constraints and more health needs,” she explains.
Bezner-Kerr derives funding from the International Development Research Centre and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for the research activities, as well as the Canadian FoodGrains Bank and Presbyterian World Service & Development for community development activities in association with the hospital.
“It’s got a tough history to build on, but people are very hard working and really excited about the possibility of changing their lives,” she says. “If you give them a small amount of resources, they do a lot with those resources. I have a lot of admiration for my Malawian friends.”