Joyce Benala, 41, is a tea farmer and mother of four in Zimbo block of Thuchila Tea Association, Mulanje District, Malawi, who has struggled to find and prepare healthy meals for herself and her family.
In the region’s mountainous terrain, access to vegetables has long been a challenge. Growing a variety of nutritious food is difficult, and farmers tend to focus on cash crops of tea and pineapples. The result is competition over nutritious food in local marketplaces.
Before participating in the Healthy Diets for Tea Communities programme, Joyce’s garden only had two vegetable beds. Now she has expanded these to 12. Mulanje, Malawi. Credit: ETP/Homeline Media
Growing understanding
This changed for Joyce when she took part in Healthy Diets for Tea Communities. The programme, launched in 2020 by ETP and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), had the specific aim of improving access to nutritious foods for Malawian tea workers and farmers.
“We were invited to the tea estate, [where] ETP and GAIN had come up with a project to train us about nutrition,” she explained.
“I started my kitchen garden with just two beds. When they trained us, my husband and I increased those to 12, in which we planted different varieties of vegetables.”
In the 12-bed garden, Joyce has intercropped leafy vegetables like mustard and amarathnus with beans and tomatoes.
“Nowadays, we do not lack vegetables at home,” she told us. “We even sell some vegetables to our neighbours. We use the money to buy other basic needs, like soap and salt.”
Easy access
The programme also incorporated cooking demonstrations to help build knowledge and skills about cooking and preparation of food that maximises nutrition.
At a cooking demonstration, members are encouraged to prepare traditionally nonpreferred food, like amaranthus, together with familiar staples like eggs. This has led to an increased uptake of nutritious food.
“Lives of farmers in the nutrition club have changed,” lead farmer for Zimbo block, Mercy Kapito, told us. “They look healthy. They also understand the importance of eating nutritious food with their families.”
“Access to vegetables was a challenge – especially in the dry season – but after we learned about kitchen gardens, we now eat fresh vegetables from our backyards.”
Bringing it all together
The project also promoted handwashing using soap – a simple, effective and sustainable intervention to reduce diarrhoea that can create malnourishment all over again.
“After visiting the toilet we have to wash our hands with ashes or soap, if we have it, before we touch a cup,” Joyce recalls. “We were also taught to properly manage water from the bathroom.”
For Joyce, the programme has been a valuable change for her and her neighbours. “The GAIN project is very good,” she told us. “It has helped us in our lives.”
Joyce Benala weeding her kitchen garden. Regular weeding allows her vegetable crops to grow without competition. Mulanje, Malawi. Credit: ETP/Homeline Media
