Oswald Mhone is a 66 year-old farmer who lives with his wife and their 3 children. Farming is his main income, so he joined his local Farmer Field School in Chiwowo to learn about sustainable ways of farming such as using natural pesticides and making organic fertiliser with manure.

Between 2023 and 2024, Mr. Mhone grew maize on his 2 acres of land, using Mebya manure. So far, he has harvested half of this crop, already producing 60 tins of maize with even more ready to harvest on the other acre of his land. The first half of this harvest is expected to last until May 2025, with hopefully much more to come from the second half. 

Mr. Mhone was also a beneficiary of one of Temwa’s livestock groups. These livestock groups are co-operatives set up to increase and diversify income for farmers, while increasing climate resilience. As part of this, Mr. Mhone has learnt to make biochar manure, and has bought a pig, whose manure will be used to make this fertiliser. He is also now preparing his land to grow tomatoes and onions which he will be able to sell for extra income. 

Before being involved in the Farmer Field School, Oswald Mhone says he didn’t have much knowledge on how to successfully establish an onion nursery. His family are not at risk of hunger, thanks to their steady production of maize, beans, cassava and sweet potatoes, but learning about growing new crops will create additional income for them to spend on other necessities such as education and healthcare. 

Mr.Mhone is also grateful for the education the Farmer Field Schools have provided on manure. Before accessing this support he had struggled understanding the differences between types of manure, and had not seen much improvement to his crops with the type of manure he had been using. He now has a strong understanding of how to make effective manure, and why all the required elements are needed for it to work well.

Oswald Mhone has now had the opportunity to pass on his knowledge and success to his neighbour. She has now also managed to improve her crops production by using biochar, and has already made a 30,000 profit. These skills and information can now be passed on amongst community members, helping as many people as possible to improve and maximise the outputs of all their work. 

Read more about Farmer Field School in our latest report here.