Organic Farmer Field School in Malawi

Why organic farming matters for smallholder farmers in Malawi

Smallholder farmers carry more climate risk than almost anyone. Rain comes late or all at once, droughts are more frequent, and one bad season can wipe out a harvest. Many soils are already worn out, and fertilizer keeps getting more expensive.

Organic farming helps on both counts. Soil rich in organic matter holds water longer, which makes a real difference in a dry spell. Compost and biochar can be made from materials farmers already have, so they don’t have to depend on costly imported inputs. Certified organic crops also sell for a better price, as long as farmers can reach the buyers who pay it.

That’s where the GROWN Farm Incubator Foundation comes in. We’re a Dutch non-profit that has been working since 2023 to help smallholder farmers switch to organic methods and then connect them with markets that reward the switch.

What is the Organic Farmer Field School?

A farmer field school is a working farm that teaches by example. Farmers don’t sit through lectures. They walk the plots, see the results and practise the methods themselves. At our school, training covers crop rotation and diversified cropping, agroforestry, sustainable water management, and making and using organic fertilizers.

We also work with local organisations that run learning sites of their own. Each has trial plots for testing organic methods, crop varieties, ways to improve soil and irrigation set-ups. What we learn from these trials goes straight into the advice farmers receive, so our recommendations rest on what actually worked in Malawian soil.

Making organic fertilizer from what’s already on the farm

Getting enough good-quality organic fertilizer is one of the biggest obstacles to organic farming in Malawi, and much of our work over the past year went into solving it.

In 2025 we ran compost trials, mixing dry biomass, green material and chicken manure in different proportions to find the best recipe. The trials produced 11 tons of compost, and 2 tons have already gone onto farmers’ fields.

We also tested biochar. Groundnut shells are a common leftover in Malawi, and we turned them into biochar in metal drum reactors. That gave us 17.5 tons of biochar, with 5.3 tons applied on farmers’ plots. Biochar helps soil hold water and nutrients, and it stores carbon in the ground for many years.

A bio-fertilizer facility next to the school

We’ve finished the design for a dedicated bio-fertilizer facility next to the field school, and construction starts in 2026. It will have separate areas for liquid fertilizer, solid fertilizer, biochar and compost, along with space for preparing biomass, granulating and bagging. Solar panels and a water tower will run the site. Once it’s working, farmers nearby will have a local supply of organic fertilizer suited to Malawi’s main crops and soil types.

Solar irrigation for year-round farming

Organic farming still needs water, and so does fertilizer production. The same 550 farmers, from five cooperatives, also trained with us on solar-powered irrigation: how to schedule watering, how to maintain the system and how to use less water.

At the school, we installed solar panels and inverters to run the pumps, repaired shallow wells, fixed leaking pipes and buried the distribution lines. Soil sensors now track moisture in the fields. A geohydrological survey has also mapped the best places for future boreholes.

The payoff is large. Year-round irrigation can raise crop yields two to five times, because farmers are no longer limited to a single rain-fed season.

Organic certification and access to premium markets

Growing organically is one step. Getting paid for it requires certification.

We’re currently supporting 220 groundnut farmers from the Mnjanja cooperative through the organic certification process. If they succeed, they will be among the first certified organic groundnut farmers in Malawi. We work with EU organic certification bodies to make the same route available to more farmers.

Certification also depends on the right seed. Through our partnerships with ICRISAT (the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) and IITA (the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture), farmers can get untreated, non-GMO seed that meets organic standards.

What’s next: our plans for 2026 and 2027

Over the next two years we’ll build on what the school has already tested:

More bio-fertilizer: the new facility will scale up production, with hands-on training so farmers know how and when to use it.
Agroforestry: we’ll encourage farmers to plant trees that improve soil fertility, support biodiversity and shade crops.
Comparison plots: conventional and organic plots side by side, so farmers can see the difference before changing their own fields.
More certified crops: certification support for value chains beyond groundnuts.
A processing and warehouse hub: a central hub at the same site for groundnuts, dried fruits and bird’s eye chilies, so farmers can meet buyers’ quality and traceability standards.

We’re also studying whether biochar can earn carbon credits. If it can, that income would help pay for training more farmers in the years ahead.

Partner with us

Our goal is to bring 100,000 smallholder farmers into responsible value chains over the next ten years, with every one of them earning a living income. We can’t do that alone, and the next stage in Malawi offers clear ways to get involved:

Buyers looking for traceable, organically grown groundnuts, dried fruits or chilies from Malawi
Organisations with CSR or development funding that want to support the bio-fertilizer facility, the processing hub or training for new farmer groups
Research and technical partners in soil health, biochar, irrigation or organic certification
Local organisations running demonstration sites that want to join our training network

If any of these sound like you, write to us at info@grownfarmfoundation.org