Posts
Deep Bed Farming crops outperform conventional crops again
23 January 2021
More and more Malawian farmers are adopting Tiyeni’s “common sense” Deep Bed Farming (DBF) method, which uses a low-technology approach to deliver consistently higher yields than conventional methods – on average, doubling yields from one harvest to the next. From an initial 38 farmers in 2013, now nearly 20,000 farmers are using our methods - and the numbers are rising steadily.
DBF spreads by word of mouth, as people compare their own crops with what they see their neighbours doing. Farmers tend to be conservative – starting with only a small portion of their land under new methods until they are satisfied they work, then expanding incrementally. So we often see Tiyeni-grown crops and conventional crops side by side, farmed by the same family, grown at identical times in an identical climate in identical soils – yet with highly visible differences between them. When they see the benefits – which can be especially visible in areas that have had potentially damaging dry spells – they adopt or expand our methods. And so DBF spreads.
Our all-Malawian team has in the past few days sent new photos and videos, including several new comparison photos, which we’ll show here.
The first photo shows Jane Makamo from Kalua village in Manyamula Extension Planning Area (EPA), in Mzimba District, in central-northern Malawi, while the image on the right is from her neighbour’s field.
DBF spreads by word of mouth, as people compare their own crops with what they see their neighbours doing. Farmers tend to be conservative – starting with only a small portion of their land under new methods until they are satisfied they work, then expanding incrementally. So we often see Tiyeni-grown crops and conventional crops side by side, farmed by the same family, grown at identical times in an identical climate in identical soils – yet with highly visible differences between them. When they see the benefits – which can be especially visible in areas that have had potentially damaging dry spells – they adopt or expand our methods. And so DBF spreads.
Our all-Malawian team has in the past few days sent new photos and videos, including several new comparison photos, which we’ll show here.
The first photo shows Jane Makamo from Kalua village in Manyamula Extension Planning Area (EPA), in Mzimba District, in central-northern Malawi, while the image on the right is from her neighbour’s field.
In each picture the Tiyeni crops are visibly darker, thicker and taller than the conventionally-grown crops. The date of planting, seeds, soils and weather conditions are identical: only the method is different. Also in Manyamula, Kingsley Ngwira (not pictured) told us that other farmers – who had been mocking him for putting so much effort into preparing his first DBF crop – now want to adopt it too! (You can read more testimonials here.)
The key to DBF is, first, to use a pickaxe to break up the compacted underground soil layer, to let water air and nutrients percolate more easily; second, to create the specially designed Deep Beds to maximise water retention, minimise or eliminate runoff and erosion, and prevent recompaction; and third, to use conservation agriculture techniques such as composting, mulching, cover crops and crop rotation to build living healthy soils.
Next is a field from Chinyama village in Msikawanjala in Mulanje district in southern Malawi. The one on the right is also from Manyamula.
The key to DBF is, first, to use a pickaxe to break up the compacted underground soil layer, to let water air and nutrients percolate more easily; second, to create the specially designed Deep Beds to maximise water retention, minimise or eliminate runoff and erosion, and prevent recompaction; and third, to use conservation agriculture techniques such as composting, mulching, cover crops and crop rotation to build living healthy soils.
Next is a field from Chinyama village in Msikawanjala in Mulanje district in southern Malawi. The one on the right is also from Manyamula.
The following photo, on the left, compares two fields belonging to Mr. Matheya, the Secretary for Tchodola group in Mulanje. Again, identical conditions, different methods, different results. The photo on the right shows the Chairlady of the Tchodola group, standing in her vibrant Tiyeni DBF maize field.
Elsewhere, Alastair Scarborough of the Nchima Trust, which recently began trailing DBF after making contact with Tiyeni, sent us this note and video. In the video, the commentator shows a DBF field on one side of the road, outperforming a conventionally field on the other side.
|
|
This season, we have engaged over 200 farmers new to Tiyeni and it looks like it is coming along nicely. There was a gap in the rains early on but it seems that whatever the weather the Tiyeni farmer will always do better than the non-Tiyeni farmer. |
The commentator adds:
[This] is along the main road going to school. People pass this road, and always they are asking, ‘what has happened to this field?’ We had dry spells for three weeks, but here the maize did not wither. People were very happy and wondered what is happening on this one. The maize on the other side is withering, on the ridges. . . . this is very wonderful.
|
This is what we mean about how the method spreads, by word of mouth. Finally, as if further evidence were needed, is this video, also from Tchemba section in Manyamula. The Lead Farmer shows her 80 to 90 bags of Tiyeni DBF crop next to the old conventionally-grown crop of 35 to 40 bags. As so many other farmers have found, Tiyeni typically doubles yields, or more, from one harvest to the next, and from one field to the next.
In short, the Tiyeni method is going from strength to strength. The farmers are delighted – and so are we. By trapping water and carbon more effectively in the soils than traditional methods, DBF helps farmers not only to adapt to the effects of climate change – but also to mitigating climate change itself. |
|