I’m not exactly a full-blown supporter of organic farming, but I certainly have strong sympathies for it, as do many of my close friends. I’ve been involved in the organic urban agriculture movement in Ottawa, I’ve done a lot of reading, I’ve gone out of my way to buy organic food, but always, in the back of my mind, is the often repeated idea: as it stands right now, without chemical fertilizer the world probably can’t feed itself.
Now flash back to a week ago. After spending 6 days in Lilongwe (Malawi’s capital) I took the two hour bus trip to visit fellow EWB OVS Garrett Schmidt in Ntchisi District for a week. While there, I saw a maize (corn) field in Malawi for the first time. My reaction: “holy crap!!!”.
Garrett, all 6’5” of him, standing in a maize field. (also, randomly, note the symmetry with my profile picture).
The stalks of maize were huge. Most had at least two, sometimes three ears on them, all of commercial size. Based on these observations, and talking to people, it looks like many Malawians are set for a bumper crop this year.
In Zambia I didn’t once see a stalk of maize that was taller than me. I also didn’t see a single one with multiple cobs. The maize I did help harvest was underdeveloped, with cobs that fit easily into the palm of my hand. Granted I arrived in Zambia at the end of the farming season, when much of the better maize had probably already been harvested, but I still feel the maize I’m seeing now on smallholder farms in Malawi is a cut above.
An example of the maize I helped harvest in Zambia.
So, what is the magical reason behind Malawi’s bumper crop. The first ingredient is good rains. In 2007 when I was in Zambia there were heavy floods during the rainy season, stunting maize growth. This year in Malawi, according to several people I’ve talked to, the rains were very good. However, rains don’t tell the whole story. Another big part of Malawi’s success is, as the title of this post suggests: fertilizer.
In 2005, after a terrible maize harvest that left many Malawians reliant on international food aid to survive, the country introduced a fertilizer subsidy program, attempting to target the poorest farmers with coupons for the purchase of heavily discounted fertilizer.
During the next two years, the program worked wonders. Reports indicate that almost half of Malawian families gained access to subsidized fertilizer through the program. Helped by good rains, on a macro-level Malawi became a surplus-food producer, selling thousands of tonnes of maize to surrounding countries and the World Food Programme. This year it looks like that trend is set to continue.
Maize fields in Ntchisi. Both fields were planted at the same time. The one in the foreground was planted without fertilizer, the one in the background was planted with fertilizer. Note the difference.
Although there are many critics of the fertilizer subsidy program (cue Google searching for readers interested in exploring the issue further), Malawian farmers that I have talked to are very happy with it. Having enough food is also an essential foundational element of development. Learning, schooling, entrepreneurship, innovation; all of these things are very hard to do on an empty stomach.
That being said, I still remain a little uncomfortable with the program. Chemical fertilizer is a hydrocarbon derivative. We are inevitably approaching a peak oil crisis, likely within the next half century. When oil supply begins to diminish and prices skyrocket (assuming we haven’t found a better energy source), fertilizer prices will probably skyrocket too.
Making the switch to productive organic farming takes years of hard work, but a fertilizer price spike can happen in minutes. Is this program, by making investments in natural soil fertility (through better composting, crop rotation, etc.) unnecessary, setting farmers up for an even greater food production collapse in the future? Taking a longer term view, shouldn’t our number one priority be to move away from fertilizer use, before price shocks make chemical agriculture impossible, especially for the poor?
I don’t have the answer. What I do know, from my time working with the Organic Producers and Processors Association of Zambia, and from talking to many farmers, is that best-practice organic farming is hard work, and many farming families are already strained with the work-load of traditional approaches. The thought of being able to put something extra in the ground that increases yields, without demanding extra labour, is almost too good to pass up.
Full stomachs and economic growth can set the stage for further innovation. It is possible that this program can grant farmers the prosperity and stability needed to move towards more sustainable agriculture. In my mind, however, two significant questions remain: Will it happen? And is there enough time?
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(Note: This post was not meant to be a detailed research effort on the Malawi fertilizer subsidy program, just a discussion of some things I’ve been seeing and questions I have. Most of the information came from this article, and conversations I’ve had with Malawians. More research by interested blog-readers is highly encouraged, and please feel free to post thoughts, ideas, or research as comments to this post.)
