Ten Percent Foundation Donates £1,000 to Tiyeni
Who are Tiyeni?
Tiyeni is a UK-Malawian charity whose mission is to alleviate, and eventually to end, hunger and poverty in Malawi. They deliver training and support using a unique method of sustainable agriculture, Deep Bed Farming, directly to farmers and using a local Malawian team. All projects are delivered in response to farmer demand. So far they have reached over 37,000 farmers. Deep Bed Farming has wide-reaching effects that directly benefit the farmers. Within the first year of adoption, Deep Bed Farming heightens crop yields by 145% and increases farmers’ incomes ninefold. Families who have adopted Deep Bed Farming eat an average of one extra meal every day compared to their peers using traditional farming methods. As a climate-smart form of agriculture, Deep Bed Farming also promotes environmental and conservation efforts by decreasing soil erosion and rainwater runoff, increasing plant and animal biodiversity, and improving soil health.
Tiyeni’s training programmes produce tangible and meaningful impacts on the lives of smallholder farmers in Malawi, which is one of the world’s poorest and least-developed countries. The vast majority of Malawi’s population is made up of smallholder farmers, meaning that in addition to suffering from hunger and food insecurity, their livelihoods are threatened.
The Malawian Ministry of Agriculture has been encouraging farmers to adopt Deep Bed Farming so that they are better able to provide for themselves and their families. Due to current drought, many farmers expect no crop yields at all this season; however, farmers who have adopted Deep Bed Farming, after receiving training through our small tangible projects, have been able to produce some crop yields despite the adverse weather.
Bad weather effects
Tiyeni’s Deep Bed Farming also has tangible impacts on farmers suffering from the effects of other extreme weather events. For example, Limited Lingoma, a farmer trained by Tiyeni in Southern Malawi, gave the following feedback after his village was hit by the disastrous Cyclone Freddy:
“Crops under Deep Bed Farming were resilient in the floods, to the extent that my crops and beds were not washed away with the flooding. If I had not adopted Deep Bed Farming, I would not have survived the impact of Cyclone Freddy in terms of food. Even though the water was too much, I managed to harvest two and a half bags of maize from the Beds.”
Belita Sikelo, another farmer, reported “In my conventional farming field, ridges were washed away together with the crops while in the Deep Beds the crops were not washed away, and the beds were intact.”
Funding Needs
Demand for training is so high that Tiyeni’s team is unable to provide direct training programmes to all of the communities who are requesting assistance. They require funding to go towards operating costs for training programmes so that Tiyeni can respond to this growing demand and expand small, tangible, frontline projects to reach more farmers. These operating costs include expenditures such as staff costs (predominantly towards Field Officers, who deliver the majority of the training) and farming equipment.
For further information about Tiyeni, please visit their website at
What is this all about?
The Ten Percent Foundation, a charitable trust set up by our group of companies to distribute monies to charities in the UK and Africa. We have been doing this for over 25 years. The Foundation never incurs any administration costs (other than Triodos bank charges, which are minimal). All monies donated are distributed to charities and community organisations. www.tenpercentfoundation.org
