Cultivating success in Malawi - community-based mushroom growing as an alternative livelihood strategy
Nel, E.; Illgner, P.; Hill, T.; Gowela, J.P.
Africa Insight 35(4): 105-111
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 0256-2804 Document Number: 581291
This paper describes and comments on the successful implementation of a donor-public-community initiative from the south-central reaches of Malawi. The region mirrors the desperate levels of rural poverty and environmental degradation of the rest of the country. Rural communities are often 'locked' into traditional subsistence farming, which is becoming less sustainable and able to provide an income to the people. Through a case study approach, the paper describes an initiative from a local agricultural college that is providing an alternative. Using local technology and available resources, a number of communities are attempting to propagate mushrooms for both household consumption and to generate an income. The results are encouraging and demonstrate how, through partnerships, rural communities have been able to successfully shift approaches to livelihoods. The paper argues that, under these conditions, development depends, to a very large extent, on community-based local economic development interventions that qualitatively seek to improve local conditions through collective action.