Eston and his crops

This is Eston Mgala , Programme Officer of the Kusamala Institute of Agriculture and Ecology near Llongwe. It is a permaculture project and he is a passionate advocate of that form of designed system of integrated, appropriate cultivation. He is also passionate about telling others what he does and I spent a fascinating half hour touring his planting, looking at trees, seeing an "air potato" for the first time, learning about his attempts to encourage Malawian farmers to take up both permaculture and tree planting .

This is him in the medicinal garden, with the sunflowers used to attract pollinators and the maize demonstrating how water management and composting can produce great crops without artificial fertiliser. Behind him mangoes grew in profusion.

The project encourages interns from all over the world, and the Executive Director , Molly Cheatum from the USA is also a keen proponent of sustainability.

I then chaired the start of a meeting about renewables at which. various donor organisations were present. Later today the Malawian Education Minister and I will co-chair an Education Roundtable at the UK High Commission and then I am hosting a Scottish themed reception for the Malawi Scotland Partnership.