Misheck Mwale, a farmer from Chimoji Moji village lives with his wife and grandchild, while his four adult children have moved away to find work. With the help of Temwa’s Farming Futures project, Misheck has not only been tackling hunger for his famly by cultivating a healthy maize and bean yield, but has even diversified into agroforestry with 30 trees planted on his own land. 

For Misheck, so much now seems possible and he says he has even noticed a change in his community since Temwa began working with the farming community. 

“The village is now more involved in farming because of the success we are seeing from working with Temwa. Community members are improving their cultivation skills and implementing what they were trained on. Wider members of the community are also learning from those who received training, on sustainable agriculture practices.” 

Misheck Mwale

We often went hungry in difficult months 

Before this, Misheck and his wife had been finding it difficult to harvest enough food to sustain the family, and they often went hungry in more difficult months. Like many other farmers, Misheck didn’t have the skills in sustainable farming to cultivate crops on a steep slope, and his land was easily washed away by heavy rains. On top of this, he could also not afford enough fertiliser to increase crop yield. 

It was through community meetings, that Misheck was able to begin turning things around, when he got in contact with Temwa. Temwa programme officers taught him some sustainable agriculture skills, like using manure for fertiliser, how to construct marker ridges, and make natural pesticides. Misheck now has enough fertiliser for his entire field, and the marker ridges help avoid run-off during the rainy season, which helps protect crops and the health of his soil. 

Misheck’s future plans

Misheck plans to cultivate on a larger scale so that he can sell his extra produce and support his family. He also wants to diversify further to cultivating bananas using the manure he collects from the livestock breeding centre in his village.

Misheck also wants to help train others on sustainable agriculture practices to pass on his knowledge from Temwa. He is excited to see increased harvests continuing in the future that will enable his family to improve their lives. 

With your help, Temwa is able to continue supporting farming communities to build their resilience to climate change and improve their livelihoods, from strength to strength.