The overall objective of this project is to alleviate poverty by improving the income and food security status of vulnerable households. This will be achieved through training in sustainable farming methods and the related agronomic practices of field crops and vegetables. The vulnerable households that we have targeted have been selected based on the following criteria; Families affected by HIV & AIDS, female-headed households and widows, and orphan hosting families. Through the training in sustainable farming techniques, this project will also have the affect of reducing the rapid environmental degradation of the area. This will be achieved by slowing down the deforestation and the subsequent soil erosion associated with the unsustainable practises associated with growing Cassava. Please scroll down to see photo examples.

There will be 800 direct beneficiaries of this project who will receive training in water conservation, soil fertility, integrated pest & disease management, organic growing techniques and agri-business (agro-based income generation – i.e. producing crops to sell and how to market them). By the end of the project 800 households will have the capacity to apply such techniques in food production and 15 schools will also receive relevant training. The project will use Temwa's Agricultural Training Centre as a central place for training as well as field related training in the more remote areas. To conduct this training 5 Field Facilitators have been recruited for the duration of the project and they will be trained up in all the relevant areas. These Field Facilitators will conduct all the training in the field as well as providing Temwa will ongoing project reporting.

The progress that has been achieved so far is that all Field Facilitators have been recruited and trained over a period of several months. This included a detailed orientation workshop and the initial stage of their in depth training in the areas of soil fertility management and crop agronomy. This 5 day training course was conducted by Temwa's Senior Project Assistant, Benson Chiumia, who manages the Temwa Agricultural Training Centre.

The Field Facilitators subsequently conducted all the community sensitization meetings throughout the whole project area. In total, the nineteen meetings were attended by 493 participants, of which 237 were men and 256 were women. The participants included Group Village Headmen, Village Headmen, Village Development Committee representatives and local community members. Since these meetings the communities have been mobilized and all the 800 beneficiaries have been selected and verified as to their eligibility in relation to the selection criteria.

Soil fertility management and crop agronomy training has now begun for many of the 800 beneficiary farmers and their initial allowance of maize, beans and assorted vegetable seeds has been purchased ready for distribution. The five Field Facilitators have delivered all of this training. This initial training stage of the project also includes the identifying and opening of new garden plots for farmers if they don't currently have their own plots.

During the coming months the Field Facilitators will receive the next module in their training which will cover crop agronomy and integrated pest and disease management. This training will then be disseminated to all the beneficiaries in time for them to be able to take care of their new seedlings. Once this stage of the training is complete there will a set of comprehensive field visit by Temwa staff to check up on farmers progress, asses any possible difficulties and make sure everything is running smoothly. There will be more to report once all the information from these visits has been analyzed.

Temwa's Agricultural Training Centre photographed in March 2010

Two of our five new Field Facilitators, Tovia C. Chirwa and Yobson Munthali

Some previous beneficiaries of Temwa agriculture projects in their flourishing garden

A newly deforested patch of farmland cleared to make way for Cassava planting

Patches of deforested hillside lie abandoned after the soil quickly becomes too poor to continue growing

Tonderai Manoto, Temwa's Programme Manager, points out all the eroded topsoil that a river has deposited

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