• Figure 1. Numbers of respondents
• Figure 2. Farming trends
• Figure 3. Seasonal calendar for Njolomole
• Figure 4. Transect of Kamundi catchment
• Table 1. Farmers' perceptions of environmental change
• Table 2. Perceived causes of change in natural resources
• Table 3. Indicators and measures of change in Njolomole
• Table 4. Indicators and measures of change in Kamundi
• Table 5. Indicators and measures of change in Chilindamadji
• Table 6. Indicators and measures of change in Chulu
• Table 7. Farmer-identified issues and mitigative action taken
• Table 8. Smallholder burley production

The Malawian Ministry of Research and Environmental Affairs (MoREA) is evaluating options for establishing an environmental monitoring capacity that (a) strengthens technical and line agencies, and (b) provides the foundation upon which an Environmental Information System (EIS) can be established. This document describes the survey of farmers undertaken so as to better understand farmers’ perceptions of (a) environmental change and its causes, and (b) measures of this change. A third goal of the survey was to note the mitigative actions taken against environmental degradation so as to evaluate whether farmers can contribute to a national environmental monitoring scheme.

The survey was conducted during 1994/95 in four catchments (Njolomole, Kamundi, Chulu, and Chilindamadji) where MoREA had been collecting rainfall, sedimentation, and runoff data since August 1993. The survey team stayed eight days in each catchment, meeting with elders, "focus groups" comprised of both genders, and individual farmers. The results of the surveys can be summarized as follows.

Farmers observe changes in a wide range of natural resources but do not discern change systematically. The two indicators that are widely used by farmers are declining soil fertility and rainfall; both serve to indicate changes in yields. Rainfall also indicates the level of water in streams and wells, as well as the number of pests and weeds. Farmers noted changes in natural resources with verbal descriptors or alterations in their behavior.

Indigenous knowledge concerning the weed species that indicate changes in rainfall and soil fertility varies considerably among the catchments. There is also great variability in farmers' perceptions as to why these changes have occurred. Men with more education appeared to be better informed. Women were ill-informed about cause and subsequent environmental effect; there does not seem to be a good flow of agronomic information between husbands and wives, among women, or between communities.

Farmers obtain information about farming from parents, school, and extension. They acknowledge that the information is not always correct, that their skills are limited, and that lack of food and poor health impede their ability to work at full capacity.

Agricultural intensification is occurring with increasing population. It is characterized by a change in farming systems, namely fewer rotations, increased intercropping, and shorter fallow periods. In Njolomole with the highest population, most farmers cultivate continuously unless they are ill or the land is rocky. Harvest shortfalls are increasing, and farmers look to remaining forest and dambo areas for salable timber, charcoal, fuel, and reeds. They are also increasingly turning to off-farm employment, and seek opportunities for trade or business. Environmental decline can be expected in areas where farmers lack food self-sufficiency but possess few additional skills.

Farmers do not seem highly motivated to address environmental decline except where it affects production. There is only a very limited understanding of (a) cause and environmental effect, and (b) the concepts of choice and responsibility. Much of the impetus for mitigative action comes from outside the farming community. For the most part, farmers' behavior is conservative, restricted to what they are familiar with. Farmers cited many reasons for their conservatism: little access to information, an extension service that is not responsive to farmer-identified needs, administrative styles that discourage individualism and creativity, and a feeling that "government will look after us." Finally, the inability to meet immediate personal needs adds to the absence of incentives to focus on longer-term planning horizons. There are however, farmers in every catchment who want information to assist them in protecting their livelihood. This desire was best encapsulated by the farmer from Njolomole who said, "Just give us the skills and information and we’ll make the decisions." Identifying the reasons for farmers’ inaction provides the opportunity to begin a process whereby farmers become agents of change rather than recipients of aid.

Farmers are likely to voluntarily monitor the environment only if they perceive this as a possible way to improve productivity and profitability. Poor understanding of the causes of changes in natural resources, low levels of literacy, and the immediacy of personal needs pre-empts most farmers' participation. However, only a determination of community needs and priorities through a directed Participatory Rural Appraisal could accurately assess farmers’ willingness to become involved in monitoring activities. Whether or not farmers choose to monitor does not in any way diminish the seriousness of continued tree loss, declining soil fertility, and soil erosion.

In addition, meeting MoREA’s objectives requires that any monitoring system contribute quantitative data and trends in a way that can be extrapolated to the national level for use by policymakers and planners. Such a system requires consistent indicators, measurements, and methodology across catchments, a willing labor force, a conduit for information flows between collectors and government, facilities to process information, and the bureaucratic will and resources to return analyses in a timely manner and in a format useful to farmers. Government resources are very limited, and an environmental monitoring program would require a resetting of priorities within agencies for training, developing methodologies, and interpreting analyses. A modest pilot project in one or two catchments would enable the various agencies to determine techniques for (a) data collection, analysis, and interpretation, and (b) information dissemination and transfer.

Programs with concise objectives are favored by both donors and government for the ready feedback on their effectiveness. However, programs imposed on farmers from above are unlikely to have lasting impact due to the combined influences of social, economic, and ecological variables. To achieve the broader goal of environmental mitigation, a process approach driven by community-identified priorities is more likely to succeed in the long term. To that end, communities must be assisted in (a) identifying and prioritizing issues, and (b) setting goals and designing action plans. Such a process offers the advantages of being able to tackle a wider range of issues and make better use of agency resources; it will also speed up the dynamics of changing attitudes and allow a faster application of new information or systems. This proactive approach recognizes the social and environmental costs that accompany crises, and the exponential complexity in redressing the situation at this juncture.

The complexity of combined social, economic, ecologic, and agronomic factors precludes a systematic external process to affect change. The process for change must originate with individuals and communities at the grassroots, but the motivation for change is stymied by the need to deal with more immediate needs. However, we deny farmers the tools to decide their own future if we do not offer them the opportunity to participate in a wider process that will ultimately (a) improve their productivity and profitability, and (b) allow them to learn about cause and effect relationships in their own environment.

The Ministry of Research and Environmental Affairs (MoREA), with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is investigating options to monitor changes in Malawi’s natural resources under the Malawi Environmental Monitoring Program (MEMP). The objectives of the MEMP were to:

a) determine possible environmental impacts of smallholder burley production; and

b) build a broader technical capacity within MoREA and line agencies upon which a viable environmental information system (EIS) can be based.

MoREA is a relatively new ministry investigating ways to coordinate environmental information from catchment, district, regional, and national levels for use by planners. This survey investigated the feasibility of farmers voluntarily collecting natural resource information for analysis by MoREA.

Farmers are the largest group of natural resource managers in the country, and their combined actions have a huge impact. The social and economic well-being of the largely rural population revolves around agriculture, so it makes sense that government seeks to monitor those natural resource variables useful to decision-making at the farm-level. Voluntary collection of information by farmers is only likely if it improves production and profitability in the short- to medium-term. Thus farmers were asked about what natural resources affect productivity. While indicators of environmental change need not link directly to sustainability, they may be used as signposts pointing to best options for farmers in given resource situations. Indicators are not to be confused with absolute thresholds, which are more problematic to determine.

Farmer collection of information potentially provides a huge and detailed information base, access to data currently unavailable to government or donors, and the opportunity to provide analyses and interpretations of these data in a way that is useful to farmers. Analyses of monitoring brings into focus farmers' immediate concerns, highlights those practices or sites that need ameliorating, and gives impetus for longer-term planning. Understanding the causes of change provides government with the opportunity to work in partnership with farmers, to seek voluntary change in natural resource use while moving toward land restoration, conservation, and more sustainable land uses. This process also allows farmers, extension agents, planners, and policy makers to identify interventions likely to be effective, and sequence them in a way that makes sense to farmers – a factor crucial to achieving policy goals.

This survey identifies indicators of natural resource change at the farm and catchment level. In addition, it captures the broader social, economic, and political forces affecting smallholders to evaluate the feasibility of involving farmers in an environmental monitoring scheme. Identifying farmers' perceptions of issues would presumably illustrate underlying assumptions, knowledge, cultural norms, and perceived opportunities, the sum of which are manifested as behaviors affecting resource use. Specifically, the survey was intended to clarify the following:

· What are farmers’ perceptions of environmental change?

· What measures do farmers use to determine changes in natural resources?

· What are farmers’ perceptions of the effects of their farming practices on the environment?

· What resource use issues have been identified by farmers and what mitigative measures have they taken to address them?

· What are the requirements for incorporating farmers in a monitoring program?

· How feasible is involving farmers in collecting data and information?

· What are the impediments to monitoring by farmers?

The MEMP has been collecting information on water quality, rainfall, sedimentation data, and cropping history in five catchments since August 1993. Four of these catchments were included in this study: Njolomole, Kamundi, Chilindamadji, and Chulu. Two villages in each of Njolomole and Chilindamadji were sampled, and three villages in each of Kamundi and Chulu. Villages representative of catchment conditions were chosen by Land Conservation and Resources Branch (LR&CB), which also hosted meetings to inform residents of the upcoming survey and its purpose. Every effort was made to choose a sample of farmers that was representative with respect to gender, wealth, age, and land size holding. Procedures were sequenced in accordance with respect for Government and Traditional Authority, proceeding from Program Managers (PM) in their respective Agricultural Development Districts (ADD) to their staff, the village headman, and finally to farmers.

The survey team lived in each catchment for eight days. During this period it interviewed separate groups of men farmers, women farmers and village elders. Groups of between 6-10 participants were requested and the high turnout at Nkuchila, in Kamundi, (150+) and Chimombo in Chulu, (150+) was unexpected. Further clarification from key informants was sought as needed. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with 35 men and 34 women, and their fields visited to verify information. Half of the women were heads of households. The number of men and women smallholders attending these interviews is listed by catchment in Figure 1.

The survey team consisted of two enumerators, Gertrude Songo and Yob Mkwinda, who were recruited through the Center for Social Research at Zomba, and the coordinator, Susan Moodie, from the University of Arizona. In addition, two women fluent in Yao were hired in Kamundi to assist the survey. The team used a separate questionnaire for elders, focus groups, and individuals. Interviews with elders were to obtain consensus on long-term change in both the environment and in farming systems, and demographic and services information. Focus group interviews provided gender-specific information pertinent to farming practices, decision making, and responsibilities. Individual interviews focused primarily on farming changes in response to changes in the environment. The questionnaire used for individual farmer interviews is contained in Appendix I.

Since time is measured by familial, community, and political events, the following prompts were used to estimate the time of change: independence (1964), end of work in South African mines known as theba (1985/86), and first talk of multi-parties (1990/91). Farmer responses usually led to follow-up questions by the survey team that uncovered greater detail concerning village history and customs. This provided the opportunity to place information on targeted issues in the larger context of village life, thus identifying constraints and opportunities to developing a farmer-based monitoring system.

Figure 1. Numbers of respondents.

4.1 Smallholders perceptions of change

Some general patterns of perceptions of change emerge from Table 1 despite variation in dates between catchments. There has been a contraction of the rainy season since independence, a gradual lowering of stream and well levels with very noticeable effects in the early 1990s, and decline in crop yields since settlement, briefly reversed with both the introduction of inorganic fertilizer in the late 1970s and hybrid maize seed in the 1980s. Farmers also noted steady loss of forest since settlement. Accelerated deforestation occurred in Njolomole with settlement by Mozambican refugees in the 1980s, and in Chulu, Chilindamadji, and Kamundi with settling of migrants. Farmers reported slower regrowth of trees in all catchments except Chilindamadji, and that the rate of change in both tree cover and soil fertility is increasing.

Other pressures farmers reported as impacting both farming practices and profitability included land sales in Kamundi and population pressures in all catchments. This has led to reduced fallow periods increasing pressure on existing land. Government policy requires smallholders to protect certain tree species in all catchments except Njolomole, leading to tree removal in neighboring forests. MoREA has requested the MEMP field assistants (FAs) to determine if different species are being protected in different catchments, or if they are the same species with different local names.

Conclusion Farmers were most aware of changes that had an immediate or clearly linked impact on productivity and household food security such as declining soil fertility and decreasing water tables.

Recommendation A farmer-based monitoring project should focus on those indicators most readily observed and salient to farmers. Other more sensitive indicators will require training and education before they can be introduced successfully.

Table 1. Farmers' Perceptions of Environmental Change

4.2 Causes of change

Table 2 illustrates that farmers in all catchments attribute lower yields to declining soil fertility. Changes in soil fertility have resulted from reductions in fallow periods and rotations. Farmers attribute these reductions to lack of land or food, or to a shortage of labor to work the land. When questioned further, farmers point to the effect of increases in household size and immigration on farming systems, yet most do not see any alternative to continued increases in population.

Men attribute contraction of the rainy season and increasingly erratic distribution of rains within the season primarily to tree loss. The majority of women say they "don’t know" the reason for the changes in rainfall. Both men and women in all catchments reiterated Biblical prophecies, collectively summed in the quote "God is whipping us" (elder’s meeting, Kaniymbo, Njolomole).

Men and women in both Njolomole and Kamundi felt weed numbers changed in response primarily to rainfall and then to soil fertility. The range of reasons for changes in weeds was wider for the other catchments without clear agreement between men and women. Men in both Njolomole and Chilindamadji felt lack of rainfall influenced pest and disease numbers, but women and men in other catchments were less sure.

Despite recognizing their own actions in reducing tree cover, there is a pervasive attitude that "somebody else" is causing loss of trees. Tobacco growers and migrants are the culprits in Kamundi, former refugees in Njolomole, settlers from outside in Chulu and Chilindamadji. Smallholders seem not to perceive the cumulative effects of incremental removal of small amounts of timber by many people over many years.

Conclusions Apart from the links between crop yields and soil fertility, and between fallow and the availability of land or labor, no widespread understanding exists as to cause and subsequent environmental effect.

Recommendation Any monitoring project should seek to use indicators whereby both men and women can clearly understand the relationship between cause and environmental effect.

Table 2. Perceived Causes of Change in Natural Resources

4.3 Indicators used by farmers

Tables 3 through 6 summarize farmers' descriptions of changes in natural resource and production variables, and list the measures that indicate change in the variable.

Tree Cover: Farmers across all catchments noted a change in the amount of tree cover and in the height and amount of thatching grass available. Both women and men use the time to collect firewood or suitable building materials as a guage of availability of resources. However, women in Chulu did not mention firewood collection as an issue even though the countryside looked barren. Perhaps the nearby park was used to supply firewood.

Rainfall: Farmers everywhere were adamant that the rainy season had both contracted and become increasingly erratic. None of the indicators representing this change applied across all catchments. Farmers in Njolomole and Chilindamadji were switching to more drought-tolerant maize and cassava varietals respectively. However, farmers in all catchments reported increases in pests and diseases in years of low rainfall. They also noted that native vegetation is slower to regenerate in the past decade, except in Chilindamadji where there has been no change.

Streams and wells: Streams in all catchments carry less water year round than in the past and women are experiencing longer waits for water at wells and dambos beginning earlier in the dry season. Men use the need to irrigate dimba crops as a guage of stream levels, while women determine changes in stream and well levels by the time of year they begin waiting for water. Exceptions seem to be in Kamundi where men did not mention watering dimba crops, nor did women mention waiting for water in Chilindamadji.

Pests and diseases: Farmers reported an increase in all catchments. Measures used to indicate change include time and money spent on control measures, lack of rainfall, and reduced native habitat and food sources for pests. None of these indicators are widely used by farmers.

Weeds: Farmers in Njolomole and Kamundi, as well as men in Chilindamadji, report a decrease in weed numbers in response to less rainfall, while women in Chilindamadji and Chulu say weed numbers have increased in response to decreasing rains. Men in Chulu say that weed numbers are about the same. These differing perceptions may result from different cultural practices such as time of weeding, seed load from past cropping and weeding histories, and local variations in soil type, light, and weather conditions that favor one species over another. There does seem to be agreement concerning the change in weed density in response to changes in rainfall and soil fertility.

Crop type: Changes in crops were reported in all catchments in response to changing rainfall but mostly in response to the need for cash. Cash crops included beans or cowpeas, sunflower in Chulu, and tobacco in all catchments where farmers had sufficient land and labor. Cowpea is a crop grown only by barren or childless women. The indicator is economic and consistent across all catchments.

Crop Yields: The same response was echoed in all catchments: declining yields since settlement with brief rises after fallow, and after the introduction of fertilizers and improved seed. Agronomic indicators consistent across catchments include changes in response to declining soil fertility and rainfall. The most important economic strategies to improve household food security in response to poor yields were off-farm agricultural work, and increased trading of food and agricultural commodities. Less important were the sale of forest products, use of wild foods, loans from relatives, and receipt of relief maize.

Recommended rotations: Those farmers practicing rotations noted that rotations are shortening in response to pressures for food and land. Farmers in Kamundi were unaware of recommended rotations, and women in every catchment were less informed then men on the value of rotating crops and on farming practices in general. The indicator for changing rotations appears to be declining yields. Lower yields is leading to more land being placed under maize or cassava cultivation.

Fallow periods: Fallow periods are least in Njolomole and Chulu, followed by Chilindamadji then Kamundi. Indicators of change consistent across catchments are the need for land and food.

Intercropping: Intercropping is increasing in all catchments, and in Njolomole the spacing between plants is diminishing in response to land pressures.

Sensitivity of indicators: Farmers use direct and indirect measures of environmental change and these can be categorized as agronomic, economic, and social indicators. Rainfall and soil fertility are direct measures of weed and pest numbers, changes in the levels of streams and wells, and crop yields. In addition, poor rains and declining yields affect farmers need for farm inputs, access to credit, requirements for cash with concomitant effect on forest, dambo, and lake resources, and off-farm employment opportunities.

Men's and women’s awareness of indicators is for the most part reflective of their gender roles (Appendix II). Men are cognizant of the time it takes to find building materials and to water dimba cash crops; women noted both the increase in time to find firewood and longer waits for water at wells and dambos. The situation is different in Kamundi and Chilindamadji, where women were doing most of the cash cropping. This is understandable as approximately half of the women interviewed in both catchments are heads of households. In Chilindamadji, one-third of the men derive cash incomes from fish while most women obtain cash from farm products. Polygamous marriages amongst the Ngoni and Tambuka (both Muslims and Christians) leave women to work and raise children basically on their own. This makes women in Kamundi and Chulu, and to a lesser extent in Chilindamadji and Njolomole, primarily responsible for fieldwork even if they do not make decisions about what is grown or the inputs used.

Conclusions Farmer-identified links between variables and indicators seem strongest when they directly impact food production and profitability. These links are changing rainfall and declining soil fertility on crop yields, available land and soil fertility affecting farming systems, crop type being influenced by economics, and weeds changing density and species in response to changing soil fertility and rainfall.

Less sensitive indicators or slow incremental change in variables require longer documentation to conclusively show change. However, these changes in practices are clear signals to planners of stresses in communities, and may assist farmers to visualize and create a different future. Two clear sequences of environmental stress are changes in tree cover and declining soil fertility. They are described below.

Farmers used verbal descriptors such as "thinning" or "less than before" to describe initial changes in tree cover. Further losses in forest resources resulted in changes in behavior such as traveling further to obtain firewood or building materials. Finally, with extreme shortage of the resource, cultural practices normally avoided by the community are tolerated. These include removal of trees along stream sides, cutting of fruit trees, and digging up tree roots – normally avoided to ensure coppice regrowth and a semi-permanent source of wood close to home.

Declining soil fertility without external inputs has led to lower yields. Farmers have responded by changing their system of farming. Fallow periods and rotations are reduced to extend production of the staple crop. Better-off farmers use fertilizer and improved seed if available. Further declines in yields result in farmers cropping more staples, with subsequent yield reductions from both erosion and loss of the rotation effect.

Indicators are useful for revealing trends and gauging farmers' receptiveness to mitigative actions and policy. That indicators are qualitative and generally reflective of a number of variables makes it difficult to accurately quantify thresholds and so decide on points or times of intervention. However, knowledge of environmental trends may link more overtly in the community’s mind the connections between cause and effect, and between choice and responsibility.

Recommendations The discrepancy regarding changes in weed numbers in response to changing soil fertility needs to be clarified. It is proposed to sample knowledgeable farmers to link the indicator to farming system and microsite conditions.

Without ownership or managerial rights of resources, there is little incentive to extend planning horizons of communities and encourage responsibility for actions. The idea of finite resources would more directly link cause and effect, and thus make indicators more reliable. Farmers in all catchments are meeting shortfalls of fuel, building materials, and household food and income needs from nearby forests regardless of whether such extraction is legal. Given the proximity of forests, their cash potential, the absence of other income earning opportunities, and most villagers' skill levels, these forest resources provide the only source of ready cash

That so many of the apparent vagaries of farming are attributed to God raises a case for educating villagers on basic biological, physical, and economic processes to better understand cause and environmental effect. This may involve reorienting existing extension efforts, targeting elementary school curricula, and calling on NGO and donor resources.

Forestry policy must align with conservation goals. Currently farmers are required to forego yield and income by retaining timber trees on their own land, which forestry subsequently sells for profit. A sequence of satellite images of Phirilongwe Forest Reserve near Kamundi show that such restrictions, in conjunction with fuel and timber shortages, leads to encroachment of nearby forests and not conservation of trees as intended.

Table 3. Indicators and Measures of Change in Njolomole

Table 4. Indicators and Measures of Change in Kamundi

Table 5. Indicators and Measures of Change in Chilindamadji

Table 6. Indicators and Measures of Change in Chulu

Farmer-identified concerns affecting farm productivity, profitability, and quality of life were broadly characterized into the three areas of agronomic, social, and economic concerns. Responses are illustrated in Table 7, with agronomic issues listed for individuals in the upper portion and the collective concerns displayed in the lower portion. Agronomic concerns, particularly the cost and availability of inputs, are a concern for the majority of farmers in all catchments. Collective concerns show that cost and availability of inputs, health issues, the availability of equipped clinics at a reasonable distance, and safe drinking water are all considered very important. These social issues dictate the efficiency of farming and the ability to expend energy and time on both monitoring and conservation work.

Traditional methods of retaining soil fertility are the use of fallow, rotation, and the burying of plant residues. In Chulu before 1990 when most cattle died, farmers collected manures from corralled goats and cattle and incorporated these into fields. Adaptations to declining fertility include changing crop or variety, burying crop residues, increasing intercropping with legumes, alley cropping with pigeon peas in Chulu and Kamundi, and agroforestry in Njolomole. While the benefits to soil fertility from agroforestry will take some years to accrue, alley cropping with pigeon peas provides nitrogen and cash from sale of the peas within the same season. The small quantities of compost and animal manure available on most farms precludes their use on areas larger than home gardens. Compost is not made in Chulu or Kamundi, and in Chilindamadji most kitchen scraps are consumed by poultry.

Fertilizer is now seen by the majority of farmers as the ‘cure-all’ for low yields. Unfortunately it is expensive and frequently not available when needed. The expected boost in yields may not be forthcoming when rains are unreliable, and makes borrowing money at steep interest rates for fertilizer purchases a high-risk decision. In addition, the use of fertilizer masks the loss of nutrients, rooting volume, and water-holding capacity caused by sheet erosion.

Table 7. Farmer-Identified Issues and Mitigative Action Taken

Approximately one-third to one-half of farmers practice some soil conservation measures. Female-headed households and married women who farm alone knew fewer conservation techniques. These farmers reported increased surface runoff annually washing out some ridges and contours in Njolomole, Chulu, and Chilindamadji. Those few women who had enough energy and labor to construct contour berms and ridges were using their "best guess." In Chulu and Kamundi, farmers said that in the past extension agents had always constructed contour berms for farmers without transferring the ‘know-how.’ In Njolomole, increasing fragmentation of plots with rising population has resulted in more footpaths along plot boundaries, leading to erosion by foot traffic and water movement. Few farmers had heard about using raised footpaths and not one knew how to construct them.

In addition to limited knowledge of methods, farmers say that the recommended measures are not always effective. In Chilindamadji, farmers found that ridges are often washed out on steep land; and on flatter land, offset mounds of about one meter diameter are more effective than ridges at reducing runoff and produce higher yields of cassava.

In Njolomole, lowland farmers reported difficulty talking to upland neighbors who failed to check water movement on their properties that then adversely affected lowland crops. This points to the need for a common understanding and focus for catchment management.

Farmers are responding to contracting and erratic rainfall by staggering plantings and changing crop species or varieties. All farmers reported difficulty in locating the desired seed type. Almost all crops are intercropped in Njolomole, many in Kamundi, all except cassava in Chilindamadji, and all except burley and maize in Chulu. Dambo nurseries are being mulched, and farmers report that they require more regular watering than prior to 1991/92. Availability of wild foods is also declining in response to declining rainfall. Women in Nkuchila attribute the disappearance of ‘nkhungudzu,’ a native edible legume that used to self-seed near compounds, to declining rains.

Control of pests and diseases was not mentioned as a high priority by most farmers but represents an important loss of food. One reason that losses are not higher in an essentially maize monocropping system is the high cost of hybrid maize seed, which ensures that the genetically diverse local varieties are still in use. Farmers in Kamundi and Chilindamadji noted that loss of bush habitat was driving monkeys, baboons, wild pigs, and birds into cropland in search of food. Several farmers reported success in keeping these pests from entering the field by locating banquets of dehusked maize on the perimeter of the field. Only the more knowledgeable farmers seemed aware that insect pest numbers and the frequency of infestation is linked to the destruction of predator habitat, maintenance of rotations, and crop diversity.

Tree planting is being undertaken by more than half the men farmers interviewed in Njolomole, with varying success. Failures are attributed to late arrival of seedlings, unsuitable species, and to lack of knowledge about how to plant seedlings. Given the financial divisions in households, it is possible that planted trees would be used to boost men’s cash income. Without explicit efforts to grow firewood and improve fuel efficiency, further loss of forest cover is inevitable. The availability of nearby forests in other catchments impedes more widespread planting, although several farmers in both Kamundi and Chulu said they "should" be planting.

Current pressures and growth rates are seen as inevitable by most farmers. Their beliefs are encapsulated in the comments "go forth and multiply," and, "those in the future will have to take care of the future." The cumulative effects of these attitudes are being seen in declining fallow periods, limited rotations, and the subsequent impact on soil fertility and yields. As population increases, lack of land will likely result in increasing numbers of landless whose only means of support will be poorly paid agricultural work.

4.5 Practices that contribute to decline on smallholders' land

Soil Management. Farming’s most important resource is under pressure. The survey team noted poorly constructed erosion controls, changes in farming systems with declining legume rotations and reduced fallow periods, burning of crop residues, cultivation to the edge of streams and gullies, and the digging up of tree roots. All these practices adversely impact soil structure and fertility. Gully erosion was evident in parts of all catchments, and few farmers knew about the loss of nutrients through sheet erosion. Through extension and education, men appear to know more soil conservation techniques than do women (Appendix II). The use and efficacy of techniques are linked to skill, education, and labor availability. That few farmers practice effective controls on the steep slopes of Chilindamadji or on the flatter but easily eroded soils in Chulu is a cause for concern.

Use of fire. All farmers report burying crop residues yet the survey team observed stacked piles of maize stalks in Chulu that farmers intended to burn. Fire is fairly commonly used to clear new gardens in Chilindamadji and for ash fertilization of millet beds in Chilindamadji and Chulu. Farmers generally seemed unaware of the substantial losses of nutrients and biodegradable material that ensue, initially through volatilization and later in surface runoff with the first rains. Fires are generally attributed to children hunting mice, which may indicate that farmers are aware that burning is detrimental but did not want to indicate their awareness to the survey team.

Value of livestock. Except for poultry most livestock are kept as insurance rather than tradable commodities or sources of protein. Without common land for grazing, livestock feed along paths, roadsides, on fallow land, and on forest preserves. Given the small numbers, the nutrients they add as waste is negligible. Stock compact paths and edges of streams, their waste is a source of pollution, yet they offer needed cash during the ‘time of hunger’ in the rainy season before harvest. Cattle were important for tillage and transport in Chulu up till 1990, when most cattle died. Farmers report spending less effort on soil conservation since then.

Figure 2. Farming trends.

Population. The effect of family size on farm viability is beginning to be realized by a small number in every catchment. Farmers reported that the family planning facilities to respond to this need are not readily accessible nor of good quality.

Land tenure. Adverse agronomic effects are exacerbated by land tenure arrangements that place pressure on remaining land. These arrangements include sizable leaseholds provided by the government to tobacco growers in Chulu leaving fewer forest resources for smallholders, private arrangements between village headmen and migrants to use customary land, and land sales by headmen to outsiders in Kamundi. Smaller farm size has resulted in shorter fallows.

Conclusions With increasing pressures on existing land, traditional methods of maintaining soil fertility are inadequate. Most farmers see fertilizer as the only solution to maintaining production.

Current information and skill levels to implement soil conservation techniques are insufficient in most catchments. This will continue to affect yields as erosion depletes nutrients. In addition, increasing runoff reduces infiltration and lowers water tables, contributing to declining stream and well yields.

Farmers mitigation efforts are hampered by health issues, lack of labor at critical production times and for conservation work, lack of knowledge, and limited access to information and inputs.

Lack of off-farm low-skilled employment opportunities and increasing population place increasing pressure on remaining forest and dambo areas for salable products, crop land, and wild foods.

Recommendations Provide education at adult and elementary level on the links between cause and environmental effect. Education needs to be interactive, hands-on, visual and probably include combinations of oral, pictorial, and theatrical methods. Information must encapsulate principles rather than just techniques to allow farmers to adapt methodologies to changes in sites and conditions. Holistic approaches to farm management (such as permaculture) embody this exploratory approach while leaving decisions and knowledge in farmers' domain, and not within administrative orbits that often (a) are influenced by outside policy, and (b) tend toward broad solutions without adjusting for social, economic, and agroecological differences. Education on both the cause and effect of soil erosion and practical demonstrations on conservation techniques would provide farmers with the opportunity to evaluate different conservation methods (a) within their labor and skill requirements, (b) for their appropriateness for various soil types, slopes, and farming systems, and (c) allow them to adapt methods as conditions change. Data from the MEMP plots could be used to demonstrate soil loss by water erosion.

A PRA would accurately determine whether farmers are ready and able to monitor environmental change.

The use of geographic imagery with detail at the plot level would assist in targeting areas for improving farm management according to land capability.

Given the cost and dangers of pesticide use in illiterate societies without protected water, adding to the knowledge of farmers from extension, research, and literature would greatly increase their understanding and options for biological and cultural pest control.

On-going land restoration and conservation practices would be better served by local people knowing how to raise, establish, protect, and manage trees themselves rather than relying on outside sources of seedlings.

Existing groups and clubs within villages are the natural focus for any new programs. Chilindamadji has a robust network of both formal business, civic, and recreation groups, as well as informal arrangements to assist with field tasks. One-third of villages in all catchments do not have a club. Achievements by village groups tend to be modest but important given the former political climate and continuous economic strain. Chulu residents constructed a post office now staffed by a government worker. Chimombo residents in that same catchment are helping each other with fertilizer loan repayments and making a commitment to get their children to school. Villagers in Nkulora are building a church/school, and 17 farmers in Kaniymbo are investigating the merits of agroforestry.

While villagers consistently cite lack of labor for field preparation and weeding, collective labor organization is not practiced. However, women neighbors in Chilindamadji help each informally and older women in Kamundi remember working in groups to prepare and weed fields. "We were friendly then and lived closely" (Kaupa woman). Apparently the famine of '49-'51 precipitated a change in this area. Women could no longer provide the expected feast in return for labor, and group assistance finally dissipated in the early '80s. Women involved in those groups reported everyone having their fields prepared before the first rains. Such a system makes sense when labor and cash deficits are common. However, smallholders reported pervasive mistrust, suspicion, and jealousy among people due to unethical actions (selling of land), the legacy of the past political regime, and extreme poverty making many decisions potentially high risk. People did not want others to do well, and cited theft and witchcraft as efforts to maintain the status quo.

Conclusions Formation of goal-oriented clubs (for example, credit acquisition for fertilizer purchases) may not prevent subsequent autonomy and self-reliance. However, these may cloud more immediate individual and community issues such as lack of labor at critical times and the absence of safe drinking water.

Recommendation Identify community issues through a PRA and allow the villagers to set their own agenda and proceed in a way that makes sense to them. A skilled facilitator may be necessary to defuse mistrust and hostility in order to allow community action to proceed.

Moving toward a dynamic that instills group cohesion and harmony will take effort, skill, and a transparent and accountable decision making process. Some were willing to embark on this process but were unsure how to begin. As a younger woman in Chulu pointedly said, "Show us some examples of how it could be different."

Only the women’s chicken club in Chilindamadji reported keeping written records. However, clubs were not asked if they recorded information by other means. Presumably they keep oral records or descriptors of some kind. This is of benefit to farmers but would require conversion and analysis to be of use to administrators.

Conclusions Collection of quantitative data may be difficult where illiteracy is common.

Collection of information and data will only make sense to farmers if the information directly relates to production. If information is collected on useful variables using measurements farmers understand, then farmers will utilize analyses and interpretations in a way that is useful to them.

Recommendations Possible options for monitoring where illiteracy is common are to (a) involve only the literate farmers, which would preclude most women, (b) develop a procedure that allows information to be recorded pictorially, and/or (c) involve literate schoolchildren who could assist their parents. This last option has the benefits of making monitoring both a school activity and a way to get parents and children talking together about farming, conservation, and the future.

Discussion and extrapolation of analyses may provide the stimulus to explore more complex and interrelated issues affecting natural resource use and conservation.

Risk assessment can be defined as recognizing the implications of available options and having the requisite knowledge to evaluate alternatives. Much of what the team observed was individuals utilizing a single option presented as a universal solution by government or donors. These solutions included hybrid maize, blanket fertilizer application rates, tillage and soil conservation techniques that do not reflect variable soil conditions, and the introduction of burley and a formula approach to its management.

Additions to these technologies include living sheds for curing burley, agroforestry and alley cropping with pigeon peas to improve soil fertility, and the use of vertiver grass to control soil and water movement. While useful technologies from outside are to be welcomed, it is a cause of concern that farmers are either not looking for or not finding answers themselves. Exceptions were farmers utilizing native root crops (chilazi and bue) to extend food reserves in the dry season, and furrowing mid-season to reduce labor requirements. Almost all women dehydrate vegetables for dry season use.

Conclusion Farmers perceive few alternatives to current farming practices.

Recommendations Orient research to solving farmer-identified issues, and present the results in a form that allows farmers to evaluate the information’s usefulness to their situation.

Older farmers said that agricultural films were extremely useful, and favored practical demonstrations.

Farmers’ awareness of cause and environmental effect is crucial to their self-identification as decision makers and resource managers. Awareness of basic biological and physical processes is a prerequisite of problem ownership and subsequent resolution. Responses in Table 2 point to farmers either not knowing the underlying causes of changes (for example changes in rainfall patterns or the species and frequency of pests, diseases, and weed species), or being unwilling to acknowledge the effects of their own actions. Despite recognizing their own actions in depleting tree cover, farmers are quick to attribute timber and fuel shortages to the actions of "others."

Farmers tend to simplify problems to only those elements that seem important. They focus on what is useful to them, make their best guess, and then test it in practice. Such an approach makes the problem simpler, draws on the farmers’ instincts and experience, doesn’t require further training or outsider’s experience, and allows the problem to be tackled immediately. An example is the use of fertilizer being seen as the ’fix’ for declining soil fertility. While this approach is useful in the short-term, other factors whose effects accrue over the longer-term are ignored. These include population pressures and its impact on the farming system, which affect productivity. This is one reason that farmers may miss the links and underlying causes of natural resource problems that accrue over the long-term. Another reason is the rate of change. Knowledge of processes would assist smallholders to adapt with and anticipate change. Certainly there is considerable local knowledge of the natural environment held by some individuals, but not the deep, widespread knowledge that allows communities to adapt to changing resource conditions in a way that offers yield stability and ecological resistance.

Conclusion While most farmers perceive change in resources, they either do not have clear understanding of the causes, ignore them, or do not extrapolate the changes to their likely consequences.

Recommendation Provide education on cause and environmental effect at the elementary and adult levels. This needs to be coupled to mitigative measures that farmers could undertake. These steps require both suitable curricula and training for those involved.

From Table 7, it is apparent that natural resource issues as they relate to conservation are dwarfed by both agronomic and socioeconomic concerns. The primary concern of communities shown in Table 7 appears to be the cost and availability of inputs, mainly fertilizer

Fertilizer and seed that could have boosted production were either unavailable, available late in the season, located far from the point of production, or were costly. Last year's free fertilizer required farmers in Kamundi to walk a 40 km round trip, half of it with a 50 kg bag of fertilizer on their head. Not surprisingly, most sold the fertilizer in Mangochi and bought other necessities. Low producer prices, access to affordable credit, and availability of markets were also of concern. At Chulu, the government agricultural trading company, Admarc, was buying groundnuts for 2 K per kg, while processed Tambala redskins sold for 27 K per kg in the local supermarket (PTC), a markup of more than 13-fold.

Access to pertinent and timely information is crucial for decision making by farmers, extension agents, and planners. The information collected must be deemed to be useful by farmers, and it must proceed from the catchment through agricultural administrative units to MoREA for analysis and return. The return trip must be both timely and provide explanation of the results in a way that makes sense to farmers.

Extension agents are logical conduits for information. However, extension agents are clearly overburdened with the number they must reach (1537 families in Njolomole, 1958 in Chilindamadji), the programs they must present or implement, and the data they must collect for their own agency and other projects. Extension agents expressed concern that they cannot get information in a timely manner to assist farmers with their most pressing production needs.

Conclusion Farmers have limited access to information pertinent to their resource situations on which to make decisions.

Recommendation Use the current agricultural structure to feed information from research, literature, extension, and other farmers to farmers. Utilize graduate students at Bunda and elsewhere in conjunction with farmers to develop, oral, pictorial, written, and theatrical material to present new management concepts, perspectives, and ways to document, analyze, and use information.

Having farmers or literate school children conduct some of the monitoring services currently provided by extension agents frees extension to do what they were trained to do – assist farmers with agricultural queries.

Low yields may result from many agronomic factors that are magnified by poor health and lack of labor at critical times. This may make it difficult for farmers to unravel cause and effect. For example, several farmers in Kambale felt they could considerably improve yields but lacked the money for quality hoes, essential for constructing the large ridges on steep, rocky land infested with bamboo. When asked how the situation would improve if they had new hoes, they responded that they did not have the food, and therefore the energy, to do the work anyway. In Njolomole, several women in Maonga foresaw "fighting for food" in the future.

Smallholders report that the availability and quality of water, pervasive poor health, and distance to adequately-equipped medical clinics are the major socioeconomic concerns.

"I needed the money so I sold the land" (village headman, Kamundi). There is confusion about the repercussions of leasehold, the fine line between corruption and receiving gifts, and of responsibility and accountability. While the survey team noted discord resulting from abuses of land tenure, they did not attempt to unravel the complexities of such systems.

Continuing land scarcity and lack of security is crucial to conservation. Management shifts coincide with changes of ownership and control. Shifting cultivation gave way to permanent boundaries in the late '40s in Njolomole, somewhat later in the other catchments. The economic opportunities of population pressures on land have not been ignored by some village headmen. In Kamundi, steep hillsides with fragile soils were sold to newcomers from Dedza, Ntcheu, and Mulanje in the '80s. Liberalization of the burley market saw a fresh round of speculators. They bought the productive flatter fields and dambo areas that were often already occupied or assigned. In Chulu, village headmen are told to accept outsiders by the group village headman. Obviously this causes tension, and it is not uncommon for villagers to employ witchcraft to settle scores. Without security of tenure, conservation works are not a viable investment for smallholders on customary land. This situation contrasts with owner-operators who seek to maintain productivity of the land for their lifetimes and that of their children. Longer term government leaseholds in Chulu are evidence of this as families actively plan how to both maintain productivity and limit family size.

Conclusions Resolution of land tenure issues is crucial for continued productivity, social stability, and conservation.

Recommendation Utilize a skilled facilitator and mediator to guide interested communities toward a more transparent and accountable decision making process. Refusing to provide land to relatives of villagers and migrants in need (or with money) goes against the grain: "Charo mbanthu" (in Tambuka, "the world is people"). A conversation with a village headman in Chilindamadji opened the possibility for a different way of dealing with the implications of migrants and family increase. In essence, the conversation was a move towards democratic and responsible decision making. All members of the village would participate in discussions and decision making. This builds ownership of the situation and some commitment to dealing with its implications. This scenario could easily be extended to cover longer-term resource use. It would engineer social conscience and responsibility and disallow actions, such as those of the village headman in Kamundi, while retaining the traditional reporting structure.

"We never finish the work in the fields because we're always ill, or pregnant, or tired" (woman at Kaupa, Kamundi). "When we run out of food we just lie down and sleep to conserve energy" (man at Maonga, Njolomole). When yields are low, days of one nsima meal a day may stretch into months.

The pattern in the catchments is consistent with consequences of poverty and inadequate access to essentials - sufficient quality food, clean water, adequate sanitation, health care, family planning options and education, that are found elsewhere in the developing world. The major socioeconomic concerns were access to safe and adequate water, illness, and distance to equipped health services, all of roughly equal concern. Distance to inadequately-serviced primary schools followed.

Smallholders experience periodic poor health and acute disability during the rainy season from malaria, diarrhea, respiratory infections, and in Chulu, bilharzia as well. This is the time of greatest energy need to prepare land, sow and weed crops, and work in others' gardens for food or cash to make up harvest shortfalls. Periods of greatest labor requirement are illustrated in Figure 3, the seasonal calendar for Njolomole. The other catchments follow a similar pattern. In 1994/95, these harvest shortfalls averaged 3 months in Njolomole and Chilindamadji, 5 months in Chulu, and 7 months in Kamundi. In every catchment, meat and oil are luxuries, while introduced vegetables are primarily a source of income rather than of vitamins. There was evidence of goiter from iodine deficiency in Njolomole, exacerbated by the reliance on cabbage and other thiocyanate-containing mustards that decrease uptake of iodine. Away from market outlets, a range of wild greens takes the place of cabbage in the diet.

Figure 3. Seasonal calendar for Njolomole. The bottom graph shows relative labor demand by month.

"We sure could do with some condoms around here... and how do you use them?" (group of women at Nkuchila). Women often have little choice in reproduction, education, or skill development, or in the choice of crop or use of monies. The resultant impact on women's health and opportunities cannot be overstated. In Kamundi and elsewhere, girls are encouraged to marry young because parents cannot afford to feed or clothe them. Early marriage, repeated pregnancies, strenuous field work, child care, and long work days all take their toll. In the dry season, women in Malola spend up to 6 hours a day in collecting a single bucket of water.

Education for women and sensitive family planning services would give women a measure of control over their lives. With high infant mortality, no social security, and technology more expensive than labor, children remain the best option for providing security in old age. There is always the thought that children without land can migrate; to Mozambique from Njolomole and to the nearby forests (protected or not) from the other catchments. The effect of family increase on farm viability is beginning to be realized by a small number in every catchment. Except for a trained midwife in Chilindamadji and an "Under Five Clinic" in Chulu that women stated provided appalling service from a drunken medical assistant, the attendant family-planning services, education opportunities, and infant care facilities necessary to respond to this need are neither readily accessible nor of good quality.

Conclusion Socioeconomic concerns may overshadow natural resource issues, and certainly impact farmers productivity and profitability.

Recommendation Undertake a PRA to determine communities’ priorities.

"No one really listens" - Program Manager - "..not to women, not to men, not to villagers, not across ministries and not much up and down either...." Wanting to learn from farmers and making the effort to develop trust is key to strengthening local institutions at the level below district administrations. Ideally, institutional arrangements would seek to include those who bear the costs of monitoring as well as those who benefit from resource management schemes. A specific question worth considering is: When are local institutions most likely to be both effective and sustainable in the management of natural resources? Bureaucracies are often objective driven, while community action relies on the process, the personal interactions between those involved being as important as the outcome. That so few donor projects continue after support is removed attests to the importance of communities deciding priorities, agendas, timing, and methodologies.

Local institutions are more likely to successfully implement environmental management programs if the resource is known and predictable rather than shifting and variable. Further success is achieved when the resource users themselves are an identifiable group or community with their own authority structure. Local institutions are not always able to resolve resource management conflicts, however. If local institutions are absent, all conflicts must be dealt with at higher levels, yielding slower and often less appropriate outcomes. Institutions encourage people to take a longer-term view by creating common expectations and a basis for cooperation that goes beyond individual interests.

While declining rainfall and soil fertility are common to all catchments, some agronomic and socioeconomic issues are village specific. The ability to respond to these issues varies with identification of the issue and local voluntary organization. Similarly, it could be expected that there would be considerable variation regarding responsibility for natural resource management. It is for this reason that any monitoring program must focus on receptive individual farmers and their information requirements in only one sector – agricultural production. If such a pilot proved successful, issues surrounding local institution capacity-building will surface. These issues could be resolved in future phases of a monitoring program.

A total of fourteen growers and three club officials from the four catchments were interviewed. The results are to assist the HIID survey later this year to quantify findings. Issues pertaining to natural resource use are illustrated in Table 8.

Failure to repay last year’s loan has meant that most tobacco growers used neither fertilizer nor pesticides this growing season. Obviously this lowers yield and quality, and has the added effect of slowing canopy closure that leads to increased surface runoff and sedimentation. In response to limited credit availability, the number of growers has dropped from 30 in 1992 to 7 this year in Chilindamadji. The vice-president of the Nkuchila club in Kamundi said that men can raise money from other activities besides farming to purchase fertilizer but that women could not, either because of household responsibilities or because their husbands associated women involved in business with prostitution. In the same catchment, two growers said the labor investment does not give the necessary profit and food security, and they are better off growing maize. Elsewhere, farmers reported that despite the labor demands, erratic rainfall and cost and availability of inputs, they would continue to grow burley. None of the growers interviewed said they had either reduced or stopped growing other crops as a result of growing burley, which suggests that only the larger landholders grow burley, that fallow land is brought into production, or that burley contributes favorably to household food security and income.

Few farmers report using pesticides. This may lead to lower tobacco quality and price received, but has the benefit of reducing the use of poisons near dambos where villagers in three catchments collect drinking water. The health risks and costs associated with pesticides make investigation of safer, cheaper biological and cultural alternatives an attractive option. One grower reported using a tincture of Elephant Killer (m’mphanjovu), a local plant to control pests in tobacco and maize.

The recommended rotation for burley is being followed by only two of the farmers interviewed. Inter-cropping with pumpkins is not recommended but widely practiced to pay laborers and to shade out weeds. The seed is sown one month after tobacco is transplanted to avoid competition for light.

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Table 8. Smallholder Burley Production