Ministry of Agriculture adoption
In 2021 Tiyeni reached a ground-breaking (no pun intended!) milestone when our Deep Bed Farming method was officially adopted by the Malawian Ministry of Agriculture as an approved agricultural method. Deep Bed Farming is the only NGO-developed agricultural method to achieve this official adoption, making us uniquely situated to deliver impact on a country-wide scale.
Official adoption
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In 2020, the Malawian Ministry of Agriculture's Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS) published the results of a three-year study in which Deep Bed Farming outperformed all other agricultural methods tested. In 2021 the Malawian Ministry of Agriculture adopted Deep Bed Farming as an officially-approved agricultural method. Official approval means that the government and its agricultural officers can both receive and provide training in Deep Bed Farming as part of their official duties.
Read the DARS report and learn more about this milestone by clicking the links below: DARS Technical Report on Deep Bed Farming DARS Extension Circular DARS Deep Bed Farming Fact Sheet |
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How does this impact Tiyeni's work?
The Ministry of Agriculture’s official adoption in itself is a major asset to our work, as it promotes and increases the visibility of Deep Bed Farming across all of Malawi. Official adoption also increases the credibility of Tiyeni’s work and farmers’ trust in the benefits and outcomes of Deep Bed Farming. But the benefits extend much further than that.
Following Deep Bed Farming’s official adoption, Tiyeni was honoured even further by the Ministry of Agriculture when they requested that we train all of the country’s 3,500+ agricultural officers. As mentioned, agricultural officers can now take part in these trainings as part of their official duties, an amazing step towards embedding Deep Bed Farming across all of Malawi indefinitely. These officers will then be equipped to provide the >80% of Malawi’s population whose livelihoods rely on smallholder farming with the support to adopt and maintain Deep Bed Farming.
Increased collaboration with government agricultural officers will also address one of the biggest challenges faced by agricultural NGOs in sub-Saharan Africa: high disadoption rates of new agricultural methods. Reasons for high disadoption rates are multifaceted, but inadequate collaboration with government agricultural officers has been identified as a major factor across academic literature on the topic. These agricultural officers are valuable sources of ongoing support for smallholder farmers across Malawi. When agricultural officers are not involved in NGOs’ work, they are unable to provide this support to local farmers in new agricultural methods once an NGO leaves a community.
Deep Bed Farming’s official adoption therefore overcomes this challenge by ensuring that government agricultural officers are equipped to provide ongoing support to farmers in this agricultural method indefinitely. This increased access to support contributes to higher levels of sustained adoption after Tiyeni leaves a community. It will also be easier and more appealing for new farmers to adopt Deep Bed Farming, especially with the heightened credibility our method has gained from official adoption. Combined with Tiyeni’s decentralised, peer-to-peer, demand-based approach, this development further solidifies Tiyeni’s well-defined exit strategy that gives our work an exponential legacy effect.
Following Deep Bed Farming’s official adoption, Tiyeni was honoured even further by the Ministry of Agriculture when they requested that we train all of the country’s 3,500+ agricultural officers. As mentioned, agricultural officers can now take part in these trainings as part of their official duties, an amazing step towards embedding Deep Bed Farming across all of Malawi indefinitely. These officers will then be equipped to provide the >80% of Malawi’s population whose livelihoods rely on smallholder farming with the support to adopt and maintain Deep Bed Farming.
Increased collaboration with government agricultural officers will also address one of the biggest challenges faced by agricultural NGOs in sub-Saharan Africa: high disadoption rates of new agricultural methods. Reasons for high disadoption rates are multifaceted, but inadequate collaboration with government agricultural officers has been identified as a major factor across academic literature on the topic. These agricultural officers are valuable sources of ongoing support for smallholder farmers across Malawi. When agricultural officers are not involved in NGOs’ work, they are unable to provide this support to local farmers in new agricultural methods once an NGO leaves a community.
Deep Bed Farming’s official adoption therefore overcomes this challenge by ensuring that government agricultural officers are equipped to provide ongoing support to farmers in this agricultural method indefinitely. This increased access to support contributes to higher levels of sustained adoption after Tiyeni leaves a community. It will also be easier and more appealing for new farmers to adopt Deep Bed Farming, especially with the heightened credibility our method has gained from official adoption. Combined with Tiyeni’s decentralised, peer-to-peer, demand-based approach, this development further solidifies Tiyeni’s well-defined exit strategy that gives our work an exponential legacy effect.