stroke photos on Flickr

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STROKE.ARTFAIR 2011 by Bernd Sauer-Diete

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Berlin-Friedrichshain, 14.-16. 10.2011, STROKE.ARTFAIR - Kunst für das 21. Jahrhundert. Urban-Art-Messe im Postbahnhof.

Foto: Raum STROKE.TALENTS im Obergeschoss, Livepainting zweier Künstler am selben Bild.

Groundnuts under conservation agriculture in Malawi by Story Maps

Groundnuts under conservation agriculture (CA) in the field of small-scale maize and mixed-crop farmer Belita Maleko, of the Mwansambo extension planning area, Nkhotakota zone, central Malawi. Signs by the roadside help visitors understand exactly what crops and activities she has deployed on each plot, and compare CA with conventional practices.

âI lost my husband in 1994, but I donât complain because conservation agriculture is doing the work my husband would have done,â says Maleko, who kept on farming after she was widowed with help from her family. At the invitation of government extension officers and the non-governmental organization Total LandCare (TLC), she began adopting CA practices and sowing plots to demonstrate them to neighboring farmers in 2006. "Iâd been hearing about CA from the radio and other people, so I was very interested in trying it. They asked me to host a demo, and I said 'yes' and started applying the practices," she says. "This is my sixth year. Some other farmers visit me for advice; some come to field days to see what Iâm doing. Some just pass by and observe."

CA practices include eliminating traditional ridge-and-furrow tillage systems, keeping crop residues on the soil, and rotating or intercropping maize with other crops. In addition to labor and cost savings, the improved soil structure resists erosion and increases water infiltration and retention, a huge benefit when drought threatens in places like Malawi, where maize subsists on rain alone.

In Malawi draft animals are scarce and traditional cultivation for maize involves as many as 160,000 hoe strokes per hectare. It appeared strange and somehow unjust to neighbors when Maleko stopped hoe plowing and began to leave residues and stems from previous crops on her fields. "Some asked 'How can you do this?'" she says. "Others speculated that I was degrading the soilâ¦some people thought I was mad, but I said 'No, I'm not mad, I know what I'm doing.'"

She notes that those local farmers who are using CA have suffered less from this year's erratic rains. She has sown cowpea as an intercrop in one of the CA maize plots; she eats the pods and leaves and it boosts soil fertility. The plants are quite small as she had not been able to sow the cowpea at the same time as the maizeâthe best practice so they grow up together. âDuring peak period I was in the hospital nursing my daughter, but with conservation agriculture I was able to manage," she says, referring to the reduced labor requirements of CA.

Ongoing support and training from extension workers is crucial as farmers learn new ways of doing things, and how to apply CA most effectively. "I was trained to collect rainfall data; when I see it reaches above 30 millimeters, I sow," says Maleko. "When I have problems, I just go to my extension officer and ask for help. Some people say my husband is the extension worker, but I donât mind. Some women have stopped talking about me and started to practice conservation agriculture."

Maleko sees conservation agriculture as a blessing that has helped pay for school fees and homestead improvements. "I cannot stop practicing conservation agriculture, because I'm getting lots of benefits," she says. "I have enough time to grow other crops. I'm very happy because I've built another house with the proceeds. I don't even complain about being a widowâotherwise, I wouldn't have sent my children to school. Married women come to me and ask for food. I'm a happy woman."

Photo credit: T. Samson/CIMMYT.

For more, see CIMMYT's 2012 e-news story "Conservation agriculture in Malawi: 'We always have problems with rain here,'" available online at: www.cimmyt.org/en/front-page-tems/aboutmediaresources/130....

Strokes cover by Tawany Paixão