Treating seed with fungicide and choosing resistant varieties greatly helped in managing diseases. Farmers Enrich Malawi's Soils Declining soil fertility is probably the greatest threat to sustainable agricultural growth across Sub-Saharan Africa. Rather than continue to exhort farmers to apply fertilizer rates that are beyond their means, this approach asks farmers what they CAN do - and designs systems to reinforce those improvements. Associated with the mother trial are about 20 baby trials, each managed by a farmer herself, using treatments she has expressed particular interest in - not just the ones the researchers may want to promote. A baby trial may have as few as four plots, easing the workload while focusing on 'best-bet' treatments the farmer is most likely to adopt.
Farmers manage their baby trials using their own inputs and equipment.
They define their own control treatments for comparison to see if the new idea is really an improvement on their previous practices. Both researchers and farmers learn from this approach. This finding has spurred additional research on the subject of access to inputs and new partnerships and institutions to alleviate input bottlenecks for enhancing soil fertility. A similar approach is now being tested in Zimbabwe in collaboration with the Department of Research and Specialist Services, Zimbabwe Ministry of Agriculture. Most infected plants died and produced few or no marketable nuts.