Low input food and nutrition security: growing and eating more for less

Tackling food insecurity in Malawi has moved away from emergency aid towards relief and recovery, with government policy looking at food diversification and nutrition. Produced following a nine-month study conducted in Malawi throughout 2005 involving twenty pilot projects, this manual presents a step by step and hands-on approach to achieve food security.

The manual looks at the following areas: 

• low input implementing: meaning, examples of thinking, training and increasing skills, testing knowledge 
  
• understanding the impact of food choices: cycle of dependency, cycle of better living, cycle of nature, testing understanding 
  
• diet diversity: understanding nutrition and digestion, planning a better diet using food groups, access to food and awareness of local Malawian foods, teaching others about local foods, food use, preparation and preservation 
  
• soil health: conserving soil, fertility and structure 
  
• water management concepts: healing the soil for improved water management, selecting seeds and types of planting stations, water capture and irrigation, correct amounts of water and conservation 
  
• plant, tree and animal health concepts: considerations for planning and design, mapping, individual guilds
  
• putting your design plan into action: planning, preparation, implementation, caring for plants, trees and animals, problems with pests and disease, animal management 
  
• monitoring and evaluation
  

The manual also includes training materials such as handouts, posters, practical designs, sample workshop and training schedules, and further resources.

Format: this manual is one large PDF file (20MB). It is also available as separate downloadable PDFs. See further information for the link.