Sustainable Farming to Relieve Hunger in Malawi

After 3 years and 10,000 farmers trained, co-founders Michael Shafer and Evelind Schecter were joined by Warm Heart Thailand Biochar Program Manager, Aom Kwanpirom Suksri, on a visit to meet the trainers and farmers in Malawi, Kenya, and Tanzania. Over three weeks we met with the teams in all three countries.

Our first stop was with the person who started it all in Malawi, Sister Miram Paulette in Zomba.  She is as charismatic and wonderful as anticipated.  She and Sylvester, the country program leader, set up training at Zomba Prison, including an introduction to the musicians who make the beautiful music that was nominated for a grammy a few years ago.  If you remember the original story - when we received a random email from Sister looking for funds, Michael responded because the signature was from Zomba and he was a fan of the prison music.  He told her we do not have any funding, but if she watched our videos she could teach people to improve their livelihoods with biochar.  As so she did and farmers saw the benefits and her networks trained thousands of farmers.

 At every stop, we were greeted by traditional songs and dances.  We saw the fields with biochar and without, pleased to see how healthy and high the biochar side grew.  They used biochar mixed with manure when they plant the seeds for corn and then again when it is about waist high, putting a "top dressing" of biochar and manure around the plant to hold water and protect the roots.

 Thank you for changing the lives of these individuals, small holder farmers!

Dana, Evelind, Michael, and the Bichar Team

P.S. # Giving Tuesday is coming up on November 29, from (00:00:00 EST to 23:59:59 EST). GlobalGiving will give away $1.2 million to nonprofits around the world as part of their #MoveAMillion campaign for GivingTuesday.  Each donation, big or small will help us unlock a greater share of those bonus funds! Join us to finish the year and start the new year on a firm footing!

Smallholder farmers around the world are learning about biochar to improve their livelihoods while they cool the climate.  The Carbon Removal C-sink markets are emerging to include the smallholders as well as the huge carbon removal corporations.  

We've trained over 1500 farmers in East Africa so far this year while making over 50 tons of biochar that is being used in farms in Malawi and Kenya. We have commitments from farmers to make another 500 tones in the next year.  At the same time, we are talking to new networks of farmers in Tanzania and Nigeria to get the farmers they are training to commit to specific goals over the next year. BiocharLife has closed a contract to sell another 1000 tonnes of CO2 credits over the next year. The contract creates income for the farmers beyond the benefits of biochar in the soil

Warm Heart continues to work with farmers' network organizations around the world to test new feedstocks for carbon content and review ways to make biochar for different feedstocks.  In Nigeria and Malawi, we are testing the carbon content of biochar made from Water Hyacinth to find positive uses for this invasive plant. One group in India is trying a recycled commercial trash dumpster to pyrolyze wheat straw. Coffee growers in South America are starting to use biochar to retain water around their trees to offset drought conditions.  The European Carbon Certificate standard for Tropical Farmers is still evolving and Warm Heart continues to provide input from our farmers in the field as well as our network partners leading the farmers.

You make this all possible. Please continue to support our training and the extension of biochar adoption to smallholder farmers in Africa.

Thank you!

Dana, Evelind, Michael, and the Warm Heart Biochar Team.