Rural Women Cultivating Good Food for All
Rural women play an essential role in food systems in Malawi. Rural women are responsible for the bulk of household food production and are most vulnerable to climate change shocks such as the Tropical Cyclone Freddy-induced floods which devastated farming systems in early 2023.
A case of Building Back Better from Tropical Cyclone Freddy Impacts in Southern Malawi
Margret Kanyenda, 58, from Machokola Village in TA Mabuka in Mulanje District of Southern Malawi, is a single mother with six children. She is a smallholder farmer and a member of the National Association of Smallholder Farmers in Malawi (NASFAM), a Government of Ireland supported association in Mulanje.
During the 2022/2023 farming season she cultivated soybeans, maize and cassava, on approximately 2 acres of land. Everything was completely washed away by floods following ropical Cyclone Freddy, which devasted much of Southern Malawi in March 2023. For over 30 years she has been using the same field but had never experienced such flooding before Tropical Cyclone Freddy.
Despite the loss she faced, Margret has a reason to have hope. Just like other NASFAM members, Margret tells a story of resilience and building back better. With support from Ireland and Norway, NASFAM member farmers have been trained in climate smart agriculture and other complementary activities to bolster household incomes, building household resilience.
After experiencing the loss, Margaret thought of a crop that would quickly and easily grow, to reduce the impact of the loss. She opted to plant sweet potatoes, utilising the residual moisture from the flooding. Sweet potatoes have a short maturing duration and are tolerant to moisture stress.
The sweet potato field was thus ready for harvest between the months of July and August after planting in May, providing her family with the much-needed food as she prepares for the next farming season. Margret is also a member of the village savings, loans (VSL) group which affords her access to finance for inputs, and other households need thereby strengthening her household resilience to climatic shocks.
Drawing upon learnings and experience in Malawi, in particular with regard to the challenges facing female producers and processors of food, Ireland has adopted a more integrated approach to addressing food and income poverty for ultra-poor rural women.
Through government and other actors, and working through national humanitarian coordination structures, Ireland recognises the essential role that rural women and girls play in the food systems of the world, including Malawi. Ireland is committed to scaling up our investment in climate-smart agricultural practices and champion the potential for a sustainable food system-based approach to meet food and income needs of the most vulnerable in Malawi.