As climate change takes hold in northern Malawi, farmers are planting their maize in pits to capture scarce rainwater
MZIMBA, Malawi – As worsening droughts take hold in their community, the farmers of Mzimba have found a way to deal with poor rains with one simple technique – planting their crops in pits.
The northern Malawi farmers, long accustomed to planting their crops on raised ridges, are now planting them in holes capable of holding water, in an effort to combat drier conditions, including a shortening rainy season.
Before she started using the new system, 44-year-old Betty Lungu’s maize fields did not produce enough to sufficiently feed her family, including her five children.
Rains which once lasted four to five months now last just three months, said Lungu, who lives about 40 kilometres west of Mzuzu in Mzimba, a vast district in the northern region of Malawi.
That is a huge problem because most of the maize varieties grown in the region need four months to mature, she said.
“From the late 1990s, the rains have not been adequate and we have not been harvesting enough from our fields. Rains stop midway into the crop,” she said in an interview.
Now the situation is different for Lungu and thousands of other peasant farmers in the district, who have adopted pit farming, which helps their fields stay moist for a greater part of the growing season.
DIG HOLE, ADD MANURE
The practice involves digging pits 30cm in depth and between 45cm and 55cm in diameter, then filling them again partway with the best topsoil mixed with manure, said Baxter Banda, another farmer that has adopted the practice.
“When time comes for planting, we dig five small planting holes in the pit. It is simple,” he said.
Mahara Nyirenda, agriculture coordinator for the Development Fund of Norway, says the practice, if widely adopted, could help curb crop losses to poor rains.
The fund provides financial assistance to non-governmental organisations to train farmers on climate-smart farming techniques, including pit farming.
Unlike ridge cropping, which helps the soil dry quickly after rains, pits help capture water and keep it from flowing away, Nyirenda said.
“The organic manure helps hold the moisture because the manure is like a sponge in nature,” he said. “Consequently, crops grow extremely well even when there are inadequate rains.”
Lungu and Banda say the practice has proven very effective in helping them ensure they have enough food for their families regardless of the shortening rains.
“When I planted my maize crop on ridges I never realised as vigorous a crop as is the case these days,” Lungu said. “What happened is that with each reduction in the amount of rain, my crop withered and that affected the yield.
“But today, even when the rains do not fall for days, my crops do not wither. They are as green and plump as was the case when the rains fell adequately because they are always in moisture,” she said.
Apart from maintaining moisture in the soil, the practice – which uses manure to help trap water – has also proven a way to cut costs of buying chemical fertilisers whose prices continue to rise.
“Manure used in pit farming plays two roles. Firstly, it holds the moisture in the soil and, secondly, it provides the necessary nutrients for the crop,” Nyirenda said.
Karen Sanje is a Malawi-based freelance writer with an interest in climate issues.
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