Temwa - Sustainable Community Development, Malawi - Opening up the Demonstration Garden

Friday, 20 July 2007 00:00

An article informing of the current status and history of the Temwa Demonstration Garden in Usisya, its a blooming marvellous story....

Temwa’s Demonstration Garden has had its ups and downs since being established in early 2006. It was initially intended that the land and resources for the garden would be shared between Temwa’s staff and the local Community Day Secondary School, providing a test bed (pun intended) for the school to practise the agricultural part of their curriculum. The Temwa staff part of the garden has always been used to grow and cultivate different plants and experiment with different agricultural techniques. Unfortunately, after an initial burst of tilling from the secondary school, this collaboration came to nought. Similarly when offered the chance to cultivate the garden the members of the Usisya Development Network (a group of Community Based Organisations brought together by Temwa) showed great enthusiasm, which unfortunately waned quickly when it came down to actually working the land.

All the while Temwa have been successfully cultivating a variety for vegetable crops and experimenting with organic versus inorganic methods of fertilising and pest control. The garden is a small showcase of what can be grown and demonstrates small-scale methods of irrigation, compost and manure use and the use of a variety of plants as pest deterrents.

Tewma were not happy to see the other part of their garden lie fallow so, in early 2007, they carved it up into easily manageable plots and offered it to any individual or group interested in learning about horticulture. Within a week the plots were snapped up and ever since a handful of groups, including a female trio, have been regular garden attendees; hoeing, watering, planting and weeding. All of this has been done under the watchful eye of Godrick, our hall and office manager, who now capably manages the Temwa garden.

Now that the garden is blooming Godrick and Benson are taking the opportunity to run ‘Open Days’, when people from the community can come for a guided tour of the garden, learn about the experiments we are doing, ask questions and share their knowledge with one another and with us. The first of these days was run on the 22nd of June. It was mainly focussed on those people who had taken up the offer of plots in the Temwa garden and, as such, was well attended. The attendees were interested to learn about the experiments that Tewma is doing. They were particularly interested to learn about how to prepare a nursery bed and to transplant seedlings to the full beds. They had been sowing seeds too close together resulting in the emergence of tangled unhealthy seedlings, difficult to transplant and less likely to become productive plants. For the women’s group this was their first foray into the world of horticulture. Initially they were constantly asking for Godrick’s help and advice. However, since the open day they have been happily cultivating on their own – much more confident in what they are doing and understanding what is best for their plants.

Temwa is now attempting to export these ideas further afield. They have organised training for 27 people from all over Usisya. These people will be trained by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture in the areas of soil preparation, composting, manure making and nutrition to name but a few. So, with luck and hard work, there will be even more gardens springing up all over Usisya over the next 6 months.

Plot holders in the garden picking the fruits of their labour