EGU22-13160, updated on 28 Mar 2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-13160
EGU General Assembly 2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Factors Influencing the Awareness and Adoption of Borehole-Garden Permaculture in Malawi: Lessons for the Promotion of Sustainable Practices

Rebekah Hinton1,2, Christopher Macleod2, Mads Troldborg2, Gift Wanangwa3,4, Modesta Kanjaye3, Emma Mbalame5, Patrice Mleta3, Kettie Harawa6, Steve Kumwenda6,7, and Robert M. Kalin1
Rebekah Hinton et al.
  • 1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XJ, UK
  • 2The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
  • 3Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Forestry and Natural Resources, Government of Malawi, Private Bag 390, Lilongwe, Malawi
  • 4Department of Earth Sciences, Environmental and Water Sciences, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, South Africa
  • 5Department of Water Supply, Government of Malawi, Private Bag 390, Lilongwe, Malawi
  • 6Water for People, Blantyre P.O. Box 1207, Malawi
  • 7BASEflow, Galaxy House, Blantyre P.O. Box 30467, Malawi

Using wastewater accumulating around rural waterpoints to irrigate community gardens, borehole-garden permaculture presents a method of local sustainable water management. Alongside this, borehole-garden permaculture also presents public health benefits through the removal of stagnant water around boreholes, key Malaria breeding grounds, and through providing year-round food to supplement diets. By analysing a dataset of over 100,000 cases, this research examines the awareness and adoption of borehole-garden permaculture across Malawi. Generalised linear models identified significant variables influencing borehole-garden permaculture awareness and uptake revealing that socioeconomic, biophysical, and waterpoint-specific variables influenced both the awareness and adoption of borehole-garden permaculture. While 43.0% of communities were aware of borehole-garden permaculture uptake in Malawi was low; only 2.4% of communities surveyed were practising borehole-garden permaculture. Communities in areas with unreliable rainfall and high malaria susceptibility had low borehole-garden permaculture awareness despite borehole-garden permaculture being particularly beneficial to these communities. This work suggests that future work in the promotion of borehole-garden permaculture should focus their efforts within these areas. Furthermore, this work highlights the value of community networks in knowledge sharing and suggests that such social capital could be further used by NGOs and the Government of Malawi in the promotion of borehole-garden permaculture and other sustainable practices in water management. 

How to cite: Hinton, R., Macleod, C., Troldborg, M., Wanangwa, G., Kanjaye, M., Mbalame, E., Mleta, P., Harawa, K., Kumwenda, S., and Kalin, R. M.: Factors Influencing the Awareness and Adoption of Borehole-Garden Permaculture in Malawi: Lessons for the Promotion of Sustainable Practices, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-13160, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-13160, 2022.

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