Smallholder farmers in Malawi adopt and improve technologies from collaborative research

Abstract

Details are given of the various new technologies demonstrated by ICLARM and the Fisheries Department in Malawito smallholder farmers, which include the following: 1) Use of Pennisetum purpureum as an alternative/supplement to maize bran as fish feed; (2) Creation of high quality compost from poor quality plant wastes as fish food or fertilizer; 3) Vegetable-pond integration using pond sediments and water for adjacent vegetable beds; 4) Integration of chicken and fish enterprises; 5) Pond stirring with a bamboo rake for lifting nutrients from the pond bottom into the water column; 6) Use of a reed fence for harvesting fish; and, 7) A smoking kiln for fish.