Case study – Chrissy Moyo, Malawi
Name: Chrissy Moyo
Country: Malawi
Course: Marshal Papworth Short Course
University: Moulton College
“As a result of my training on the Marshal Papworth Short Course, I am now working as a field project facilitator, helping members of the Malawi community that are reliant on socio-cash support to increase their resilience and help grow themselves out of hunger.”
Since Chrissy graduated, she has supported 1,300 beneficiaries through dialogue sessions to start small agri-businesses, encouraging them to identify their own problems and finding lasting solutions so that they are self-reliant, resilient to climate change and have an improved standard of living.
“Amongst the 1,300 farmers that I am working with, 350 of them are now undertaking vegetable production, selling in their local markets, while 60 members are beekeepers. Five farmer groups, each with 20 members are producing fruit trees, raising the fruit seedlings and using graft knowledge, which I gained during my Marshal Papworth short course, to produce higher value grafted trees.”
Through sharing the knowledge that Chrissy gained on the Short Course, she has helped increase maize productivity in her community by 75% by practicing climate change mitigation measures including pit planting and agri-forestry.
“Farmers in my community have gone from relying on socio-cash (government handouts) to survive, to producing crops that not only feed their families but also leave a surplus to sell at markets.”
“Personally, because of the short course, I am now practicing seasonal soil rotation for high yields in my own field, doing soil scouting to assess the soil condition in my own field, and for 2017/18 I was self-sufficient in food for the first time.”
“The Marshal Papworth short course has really influenced my future goals because I am now motivated to keep updated with new innovations and farming technologies through online agriculture courses, whilst continuing to deliver this knowledge to communities in Malawi. I am also looking forward to working with research stations in doing soil analysis and testing.”
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