Abstract

Malawi is endowed with diverse natural resources, including many landraces of crops. This biodiversity is declining due to various development pressures, threatening the future food security and livelihood of the 85% of Malawis who engage in agriculture. This project will design and implement an in-situ agricultural biodiversity conservation and development strategy that builds on and enhances local knowledge and innovation systems. Researchers will collect and characterize the landraces of indigenous crops and integrate farmers' knowledge into national gene bank collections. They will assess the genetic status and variation between and within indigenous crops, and compare this information to farmers' knowledge. Local women and men will participate in identifying problem areas and in plant breeding programs. Crop improvement priorities will be identified based on farmers' evaluation and laboratory analysis of under-utilized species. Finally, the nutritional and anti-nutritional elements in selected indigenous vegetables and fruits will be studied, whether these be related to methods of processing, storage, cooking or consumption. The project is expected to take a participatory approach to the collection and development of locally adapted plant genetic resources (PGR), thereby increasing the probability that these will benefit farmers in the near as well as the long term. The research will also provide information on the costs and benefits of the in-situ approach to agricultural biodiversity conservation.

Post-Project Summary

The project was the first of its kind in Malawi. The Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs, in collaboration with Laurentian University, Canada, undertook a systematic study linking plant breeding and conservation strategies to local knowledge and seed systems. The project team was very successful in engaging local communities in the research process. Both men and women were involved at various levels, including varietal selection, on-farm trials, and recipe development. From the outset, the project had a gender component, but after the first year it became clear that more resources would be required to fully integrate gender issues into the substantive work of the project in keeping with the Government of Malawi's growing emphasis on mainstreaming gender equality in development programs. This need was met by means of an additional grant from CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) for an expanded version of the gender component, and by keeping the senior gender advisor - a Kenyan-Canadian - on for the duration of the project.

The project was very successful in influencing policy and government practices, mainly because it was implemented under the auspices of the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), part of the Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs. The Deputy Director of DEA was the National Coordinator of the project, and both he and the Project Leader were able to maintain a high level of support from both the Director of the DEA and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry. The project activities became integrated within the day-to-day activities of the Department, operating under conditions similar to those of other government activities. Both the Project Leader and the Senior Gender Advisor maintained regular contact with high-level officials in the ministries of Agriculture and Gender, Youth and Community Services to brief them on project activities and results. A number of meetings with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture helped inform the Ministry's input into the Poverty Reduction Strategy paper. The Senior Gender Advisor wrote monthly briefing papers for the Director of Environmental Affairs, which he would use to debrief the Minister and Ministry personnel not involved in the project.

The project was beset by a number of challenges, including a high rate of staff turnover, the death of one of the team members, and inexperience in gender methodologies on the part of the Malawi team. As a result one of the planned activities - a gendered impact assessment - was cancelled. Nevertheless, an evaluation conducted for CIDA concluded that the project had successfully addressed its stated objectives and has good potential to have a positive impact on food security, nutrition and agricultural biodiversity in the future (3-5 years).

Recipient Institution(s)