Mangochi Food Forests
Overview
Since 2013 our colleagues in Mangochi, southern Malawi, working under the African Moringa and Permaculture Project (AMPP) have been establishing highly diverse and productive food forests and agroforestry systems in small kitchen gardens, larger food forests and staple fields. High concentrations of fruit trees and perennial shrubs help restore depleted soils and provide year round food sources at project sites in Kasankha Bay, in the lowlands near Cape Maclear, and in Chowe, at the base of the Namizimu Forest Preserve, both in Mangochi District.
History
In April 2013 AMPP began work in Kasankha Bay, establishing permaculture kitchen gardens and a tree nursery in Kasankha village. The objective of the project was to teach farmers how to diversify their crops and make use of previously marginal land to produce food and generate income. April 2014 marked the beginning of AMPP’s Food Forest Project the objective of which is to mimic natural forest processes to restore degraded marginal land and create highly diverse and resilient food production systems for 120 rural households. Backed by funding from The Ørskov Foundation in Scotland, AMPP has established several acres of food forests, kitchen gardens and agroforestry fields in six villages in Mangochi district. These practical permaculture demonstrations are helping to diversify village diets, generate income and restore the natural environment.
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