Smallholder farmer training
Tiyeni empowers smallholder farmers to build self-sustaining livelihoods that equally benefit people and the planet. We provide training and support to communities across Malawi in the adoption of climate-smart agriculture.
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Tiyeni empowers smallholder farmers to build self-sustaining livelihoods that equally benefit people and the planet. Delivering training in our innovative form of climate-smart agriculture, Deep Bed Farming, is at the core of Tiyeni’s work to end food poverty and to improve water security. Our training is based around three central pillars: peer-to-peer knowledge exchange, decentralised models, and demand-based project delivery. Learn more about each of these pillars below
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If we continue farming in the way our fathers taught us [by using conventional ridge farming], we will all starve. We must adopt the way Tiyeni has shown us today. |
Peer-to-peer
Tiyeni’s work uses a “train the trainer” approach by providing focused training to Lead Farmers in Deep Bed Farming. Lead Farmers are skilled farmers who volunteer to take on leadership roles. Once they are trained by Tiyeni, Lead Farmers engage in peer-to-peer knowledge exchange with other farmers to train and support them in Deep Bed Farming. Lead Farmer training produces exponential impacts, as each Lead Farmer trains between 5-15 “follower farmers” every year, including in their very first year! This ongoing peer-to-peer training gives our work a legacy effect that ensures Deep Bed Farming adoption continues and remains embedded in communities.
Decentralised
Tiyeni’s training is delivered using a decentralised demonstration garden model. Training projects are provided to farmers in villages that spread out from our three hubs, which serve Malawi’s Northern, Central, and Southern regions. In this decentralised model, Lead Farmers are trained in and begin using Deep Bed Farming in their individual gardens. For each training session, a different farmer’s land is used. Training is delivered in a carefully-designed sequence over the season, in which different elements of the Tiyeni method are introduced. All farmers work in and care for each other’s gardens, which involves sharing best practice, solving problems together, and comparing experiences. This approach results in better crops and more cohesive community grouping. Once established, Lead Farmers’ gardens act as demonstration gardens that wider groups of peers can learn from.
Peers directly observe the benefits that Lead Farmers reap once they adopt Deep Bed Farming. The differences of Deep Bed Farming and conventional farming are very apparent in this model: Lead Farmers convert only part of their land to Deep Bed Farming in the beginning, so everyone can see how much the Deep Bed crops tower over the conventional crops! This approach contributes to building demand for our training, as discussed in further detail in the section below.
Lead Farmers use their demonstration gardens to engage in peer-to-peer knowledge sharing to spread Deep Bed Farming across their communities. Deep Bed Farming is intentionally low-cost and low-tech, so Lead Farmers are fully-equipped to train follower farmers in Deep Bed Farming and to provide them with ongoing support in the use of Deep Bed Farming.
The hubs a centres in our decentralised demonstration garden model to provide critical support and resources. This complements the decentralised model by offering:
Peers directly observe the benefits that Lead Farmers reap once they adopt Deep Bed Farming. The differences of Deep Bed Farming and conventional farming are very apparent in this model: Lead Farmers convert only part of their land to Deep Bed Farming in the beginning, so everyone can see how much the Deep Bed crops tower over the conventional crops! This approach contributes to building demand for our training, as discussed in further detail in the section below.
Lead Farmers use their demonstration gardens to engage in peer-to-peer knowledge sharing to spread Deep Bed Farming across their communities. Deep Bed Farming is intentionally low-cost and low-tech, so Lead Farmers are fully-equipped to train follower farmers in Deep Bed Farming and to provide them with ongoing support in the use of Deep Bed Farming.
The hubs a centres in our decentralised demonstration garden model to provide critical support and resources. This complements the decentralised model by offering:
- Resource distribution: the hubs acts as a distribution centre for seeds, tools, and other agricultural inputs, ensuring that all farmers have access to necessary resources.
- Knowledge sharing: the hubs facilitates wider training and helps farmers stay updated with the latest agricultural practices and innovations. These innovations are then adopted by farmers in their groups through the decentralised garden model.
- Monitoring and support: the hubs provides bases for Tiyeni Field Officers to offer ongoing support, to monitor progress, and to address any challenges faced by the farmers in their fields.
Demand-based
Tiyeni only provides training to farmers upon request rather than by providing inputs or incentives. There are two primary reasons underlying this approach. First, providing training only upon request helps safeguard communities’ autonomy. Second, demand-based training demonstrates higher rates of farmers continuing to use a new farming method once an organisation’s work within their community ends. This in turn contributes to our sustainable exit strategy that gives our work a lasting legacy effect long after we have finished training a community. We have seen very high success rates with this approach. For example, in April 2024 farmers from Manyamula reached out to Tiyeni, three years after we had completed training in their village. Not only were all the farmers Tiyeni worked with still using Deep Bed Farming, but adoption by new farmers was surging! Farmers like Bestie Mhonie wanted Tiyeni staff to witness for themselves how much the work had transformed lives, and to ask for some follow-up training tips, of course.
Demand for our work is generated as farmers observe the many benefits achieved by their peers who have adopted Deep Bed Farming. The demonstration gardens described above provide some of this visibility. On top of this, Tiyeni hosts Field Days every year during harvest season. During Field Days, farmers, NGOs, and staff from the Ministry of Agriculture are invited to hubs to observe farmers’ achievements using Deep Bed Farming and to receive further information about this revolutionary farming method. In fact, Field Days have been so successful at generating demand for our work that we will need to grow our team of Field Officers to respond to it all! Support from individuals like you has a major impact in helping us meet this skyrocketing demand.
Demand for our work is generated as farmers observe the many benefits achieved by their peers who have adopted Deep Bed Farming. The demonstration gardens described above provide some of this visibility. On top of this, Tiyeni hosts Field Days every year during harvest season. During Field Days, farmers, NGOs, and staff from the Ministry of Agriculture are invited to hubs to observe farmers’ achievements using Deep Bed Farming and to receive further information about this revolutionary farming method. In fact, Field Days have been so successful at generating demand for our work that we will need to grow our team of Field Officers to respond to it all! Support from individuals like you has a major impact in helping us meet this skyrocketing demand.