Permaculture School Garden against Hunger

Hunger and malnutrition are widely spread in the rural area around Ng’ongo. Our partner organisation ASUD (Action for Sustainable Development) cultivates a permaculture garden at a school in Ng’ongo with around 450 pupils.

Permaculture School Garden – primary schools

PERMACULTURE SCHOOL GARDEN AGAINST HUNGER

In northern Malawi, our partner organisation ASUD (Action for Sustainable Development) supports primary schools in setting up permaculture school gardens. By promoting sustainable agriculture, ASUD cooperates with the school communities to fight hunger and malnutrition.

In the rural area of the district of Mzimba, hunger and malnutrition are widespread. Our partner organisation ASUD works together with 5 primary schools and the families of the school children.

Each school sets up a permaculture garden and grows local vegetables and fruit with high nutritional value. Pigs are kept to provide manure for compost. Fruit trees, maize, soya and bananas are planted in the school grounds and the soil is stabilised through erosion measures. The yields from the school garden provide the children with balanced meals. As a result, they attend school regularly, can concentrate better and improve their performance.

At the same time, each school is a learning centre for organic farming and nutrition science for the whole community. The parents of the school children go there to learn how to fight hunger and malnutrition with locally available means, without chemicals and with little money. Afterwards, they copy the school garden at their homes. The families form permaculture clubs to help each other implement what they have learned. The sale of surpluses improves the economic situation of the families on the one hand and enables the schools to make urgently needed purchases on the other hand. ASUD works together with the district authorities to achieve an overall social benefit from the project. Where it is possible, deep wells are drilled at the schools and in the villages. This greatly facilitates the maintenance of the gardens. The water also serves for drinking, cooking, cleaning and daily hygiene, such as hand washing.

This project is based on a successful pilot project at the primary school in Ng’ongo, which ASUD implemented between 2018 and 2020 with the support of EcoSolidar.

THOMAS NGWIRA

Director ASUD, Malawi

“I personally love working with rural communities, particularly with women and children, in solving problems related to food security, nutrition and environment. I have learnt that investing in women benefits everyone in a household as they are directly responsible for the family welfare and that children keep what they learn and the knowledge benefit is long term.”

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Food Security for Farmers with a Disability

KODO’s aim is for disabled people to become mobile and to achieve higher financial independence, food security and to find a place in society. Since 2013, when EcoSolidar organised a knowledge sharing between the partner organisation LOMADEF and KODO, EcoSolidar has supported KODO in the area of organic farming.

Food Security for Farmers with a Disability

Food Security for Farmers with a Disability

In Salima, Malawi, KODO empowers disabled farmers in their mobility, income generation and in food security.

KODO’s aim is for disabled people to become mobile and to achieve higher financial independence, food security and to find a place in society. Since 2013, when EcoSolidar organised a knowledge sharing between the partner organisation LOMADEF and KODO, EcoSolidar has supported KODO in the area of organic farming. Since then disabled farmers continue to learn the techniques of composting and agroforestry and have been supported in implementing them by KODO. The organic farming methods are suitable for disabled farmers to farm despite their poor financial resources, as they don’t have to spend a lot of money on hybrid seeds and chemical fertilizers. For people with a disabilities and their families this is a significant step towards independence. KODO supports 150 families in 5 communities around Salima each year.

George Chimpiko - KODO Partnerprojekt

George Chimpiko

Director KODO, Malawi

I was born with a clubfoot and can understand the difficulties of people with a walking disability very well. That is why I, as managing director of KODO, concentrate on this target group. I am very happy that we can contribute to their food security. This fulfils my dream of supporting people with a walking disability”

Photo report