Malawi farming experiment shows how simple changes can boost maize yields and improve soil

Farmers are already struggling financially. Many farm only one crop: maize. They can’t easily afford chemical fertilisers that would boost the soil’s fertility and sustain yields. Agriculture accounts for just over 25% of Malawi’s gross domestic product. About 80% of the population depend on smallholder farming for their survival. We are soil fertility and sustainable development specialists. Together with sustainable agriculture and environmental researcher Augustine Talababie Phiri, we set out to discover how we could use different combinations of plants to improve soil fertility so that farmers wouldn’t need expensive fertilisers. We conducted trials on farms in northern Malawi where we tested a combination of different crops grown together. We then measured changes to the soil fertility in each field over a two year period. Our research found that growing maize with cowpea and pigeon pea in raised “deep beds” led to much greater soil fertility. What we researched Traditional ...