After the conference at Uganda, I flew down to Malawi. I visited Malawi to make some new connections with local scientists there. I met a few great soil scientists from Bunda College of Agriculture. They helped me understanding the issues with regards to agriculture in Malawi. Also, they showed me their current experiments.
     I found that soil erosion is becoming a serious issue in Malawi. In Malawi, 80% of the rainfall occurs within 3.5 months. This means there are two distinct seasons in this country, dry and wet seasons. Soil erosion, or soil loss, occurs at the beginning of the wet season. A heavy rain washes away a large amount of soil from farms to rivers and lakes. This is a huge loss of resources for farmers but at the same time it potentially has a negative impact on water resources.
     There are number of methods can be used to protect soils from the erosion. If I have a chance in future, I would like to test some of the methods in Malawi to help the local farmers and also the environment. I also had a very good meeting with people at JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). They are trying to promote the use of manure, which I think is wonderful thing to do.
     This trip to Africa was fascinating. I learnt so much about agriculture in Africa. It has long been my dream to visit this great continent not to see some wild animals (which I did) but also to help local farmers. However, I have to say during this visit, I was not helping farmers but rather I was learning from them. Next time when I come to Africa, I should be more prepared and I hope I can actually help the farmers.

ウガンダでの学会の後、マラウイに飛びました。マラウイでは、地元の研究者たちと新たなコネクションを作り、地元の農業について学ぶことを目標としていました。ブンダ農業大学では、幾人かの土壌学者と打ち合わせを行うことが出来、現場でどのような問題が起こっているのかを体感することが出来ました。また、ブンダで行われているフィールド実験を目にすることも出来ました。
   土壌流出が、マラウイでは深刻な問題になっているようでした。マラウイでは、三か月半の間に一年で降る雨の80%が降ります。つまり、雨季と乾季に季節がはっきりと分かれているわけです。土壌流出は乾季の終わり、雨季の始めに起こります。大雨が農場の土を川や湖に流し去ってしまうわけですが、それは農家にとって損失であるばかりではなくて、川や湖の環境へ悪影響がある可能性も高いと言えます。
   土壌流出を防ぐ方法はたくさんあります。もし可能であれば、次アフリカへ行く際にそのような実験をする準備を整えてから行こうと思っています。また、JICAの方と打ち合わせを行うことも出来ましたので、堆肥の利用などを積極的に推し進めているJICA等との連携も出来ないかと考えています。