ABSTRACT

In the context of increasing NGO interest in the capacity of conservation agriculture methods to support sustainable agriculture across sub-Saharan Africa, this paper explores the experiences of farmers (n = 111) adopting the Tiyeni NGO’s deep-bed farming (DBF) system in northern Malawi. The results of a field survey suggest that whilst DBF delivers significant livelihood benefits for farmers relative to traditional techniques (a factor arguably driving its rapid spontaneous adoption throughout the area), some asset-poor farmers are unable to sustain DBF due to its labor demands. We argue that to widen its beneficial impacts in a manner that can be sustained, there is a need for Tiyeni’s DBF to be less prescriptive and more adaptive to specific social-ecological contexts.

摘要

在非政府组织对保护性农业方法在撒哈拉以南非洲地区支持可持续农业能力的兴趣日益浓厚的背景下，本文探讨了农民（n = 111）在北部采用蒂耶尼非政府组织的深层农业（DBF）系统的经验马拉维。一项实地调查的结果表明，尽管相对于传统技术，DBF可以为农民带来可观的生计收益（可以说是促使该地区迅速自发采用的一个因素），但是一些资产贫乏的农民由于其劳动力需求而无法维持DBF。我们认为，为了以一种可以持续的方式扩大其有益影响，有必要让蒂耶尼的DBF规范性降低，更适应特定的社会生态环境。