Food security for small scale maize farmers in Malawi is improved with agroforestry and fertilizer trees

Soil nutrient deficiency is a major limiting factor for agricultural productivity in many tropical regions. Increasing the input of mineral fertilizers could therefore improve yields, but is often too expensive for poor small scale farmers in rural sub-Saharan Africa. However, a new academic study from Malawi shows that fertilizer trees in combination with crops significantly can improve food security by increasing the nitrogen content in the soil.
 
The study was done in rural Malawi and clearly confirms the link between adoption of fertilizer trees, trees that capture nitrogen from the air, and improved yields. Around 300 maize-based farming systems were assessed in the study and around half of these practised agroforestry with fertilizer trees. Food security was significantly improved on these farms and the economic value of the produced food crops was as much as 35 % higher than for farms without fertilizer trees. The impact of agroforestry was especially apparent on farms using improved maize seeds. Apart from improving food security, the trees also contributed with timber and fodder for livestock. The study also showed that small holder farmers with less than 2 acres of land were the ones benefitting the most from the adoption of agroforestry.
 
The scientific evidence base, confirming that agroforestry can be a successful land management strategy to mitigate poverty and improve food security, is growing. However, the global recognition and adoption of agroforestry remains low. This study identifies different bottlenecks that could be the reason for the limited acknowledgement of agroforestry. One of these bottlenecks is the complex nature of agroforestry farming and that benefits are not apparent until a couple of years after adoption. This bottleneck is caused by lack of knowledge among farmers, but also other stakeholders such as public institutions, NGOs and researchers. To increase the adoption of fertilizer trees and agroforestry systems it is therefore important to improve the technological knowledge within particularly national extension systems, but also among scientists and commercial agricultural actors in sub-Saharan Africa.
 
Read the full article on Research Gate.
 
Picture Credit: Kate Holt/AusAID, published under the license of CC BY 2.0.