Over the past couple of weeks or so I’ve seen posts from this site at various community blogs, but have not, until now, clicked on any (the post titles are pretty boring sounding – for instance, the one I clicked on was titled “More of Your Responses Are In”). It turns out, though, to be pretty interesting.

Nourishing the Planet, one of a network of blogs from the Worldwatch Institute, appears to highlight various sustainable agriculture practices being put into place around the world – from small backyard plots to large farm collectives.

In one four-part series ( Malawi’s Real “Miracle”, Improving Livelihoods and Nutrition with Permaculture (video), Emphasizing Malawi’s Indigenous Vegetables as Crops (video), and Sweeping Change )  Danielle Nierenberg visits Kristof and Stacia Nordin in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Malawi is one of the many, many places and things I don’t know much about, and agriculture is another (I kill all plants) but I wanted to mention this particular series because of various thoughts brought to mind while reading it.

Here is the first paragraph:

 

Stacia and Kristof Nordin have an unusual backyard. Rather than the typical bare dirt patch of land that most Malawians sweep “clean” every day, the Nordins have over 200 varieties of mostly indigenous vegetables growing organically around their house. They came to Malawi in the 1990s as Peace Corps Volunteers, but now call Malawi home. Stacia works for the Malawi Health Ministry, educating both policy-makers and citizens about the importance of indigenous vegetables and permaculture for improving livelihoods and nutrition.

Okay, nothing new there. Western people going to Africa (or South America, or other places) and deciding to stay – at least for a while – and teach, help, so on. But then this caught my eye:

 

Malawi may be best known for the so-called “Malawi Miracle.” Five years ago the government decided to do something controversial—provide fertilizer subsidies to farmers to grow maize. Since then maize production has tripled and Malawi has been touted as an agricultural success story.

But the way they are refining that corn, says Kristof, makes it “kind of like Wonderbread,” leaving it with just two or three nutrients. Traditional varieties of corn, however, which aren’t usually so highly processed, are more nutritious and don’t require as much artificial fertilizer compared to hybrid varieties. According to Kristof, “48 percent of the country is still stunted with the miracle.”

Stacia and Kristof use their home as a way to educate their neighbors about both permaculture and indigenous vegetables. Most Malawians think of traditional foods, such as amaranth and African eggplant, as poor people foods grown by “bad” farmers. But these crops may hold the key for solving hunger, malnutrition and poverty in Malawi.[Ed. emphasis mine]

And I thought… well, I don’t know what I thought. How did that come about? or maybe, How familiar that seems? So often food indigenous to regions, and to cultures, is derided to the point where, if it’s not pre-packaged or doesn’t have a big name label on it, it’s no longer considered “good food”. I really have no idea of that is what happened in Malawi – I know even less about that country than I do about agriculture. But it wouldn’t surprise me.

Anyway, one for the blogroll that I will be putting together. The whole series is an informative read/watch. As are other people and places they have highlighted on the blog, some of which I’ll probably post about over the next few weeks.

Very nice article. I particularly like the use of language in “Talk Like a Person”. When this is done well, it really differentiates a Web site from the competition.
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