Malawi is classified as a least developed country and considered a climate change “hotspot”. With over half of its districts being disaster-prone, studies suggest that Malawi will continue to see increasing climatic variability. This will affect agriculture, the environment, water availability, energy provision, health, and thereby the livelihoods of Malawians, especially the marginalized people living in rural areas.
Malita McDonald, 35, a subsistence farmer from village headman, Katumbu, in Madisi, Dowa District, has witnessed the impacts of climate change.
“I was born into a family of subsistence farmers,” says Malita. “My parents failed to give me education due to, among other reasons, poverty but when I got married and was blessed with 4 children; Moreen, Watson, Alinafe and Justin; I believed that through hard work, I would be able to educate my kids through farming which was a very promising occupation and the only hope for our uneducated community.”
Unfortunately, Malita’s dreams were shattered by the harsh effects of climate change.
“We first noticed that something was wrong around us after the year 2000, when the rainfall pattern changed. Unexpected dry spells became an annual occurrence,” she says. “The dry spells quickly resulted in poor harvest, leading to food shortages and subsequently taking us into extreme poverty and food insecurity in our family.”
Despite the many challenges Malita has faced, her story is now different. Through “Permaculture Uptake Project” in Madisi, Malita and other 420 families in the community are now filled with joy because the project has equipped them with hands-on experience on how to use permaculture to establish systems that are not only productive in their farming systems but also climate resilient. Since the introduction of the project, people in the area are no longer struggling with hunger or poverty as they used to. This is so because, as opposed to conventional farming, farmers in the area are now able to use crop diversification and this is helping them to have options on food instead of just depending on Maize alone.
The system has also helped people in the area to start planting trees – and has also reduced the problem of unemployment and food insecurity in the area since more and more people are now transitioning from subsistence to commercial farming.
Building resilience and adaptation to climate change is one of the key areas Opulence Malawi is striving to implement. We are not big-headed but cannot help thinking how impactful our programs are. Our prayer is that God will continue to bless us with resources and strength so that we can reach more people like Malita.
[photo taken in the village, showing Malita in her home garden]