Kendra Custer 3/18/2014 Environmental Science Written Assignment 3 The Millennium Villages Project is Malawis subsidy program designed

to bring sustainable development to Africa. Eighty villages are clustered into about a dozen millennium villages that receive help. The villagers get hybrid seeds and fertilizers for free as long as they donate three bags of corn at harvest time to a school feeding program. They also get bed netting and antimalarial drugs. Along with a clinic of health workers, a granary, and safe drinking water wells. Good schools, improved roads, and connection to the power grid are being brought to these villages. The Soils, Food and Healthy Communities project provides legume seeds, recipes, and technical growing advice for growing nutritious crops that enrich the soil by fixing nitrogen and enriching diets. The Millennium Villages Project is trying to increase the quality of life for citizens of Malawi and reducing hunger. The problem with this project is that it is still reliant on fertilizers and pesticides with a dependence on fossil fuels. The fertilizer subsidy cannot last long, not everyone receives the subsidy, and it is only distributed once per year. With such a large emphasis placed on the use of expensive fertilizers and pesticides runs the risk of contaminating the soil and drinking water as discussed in India. The Soils, Food and Healthy Communities project is trying to reduce the rates of malnutrition, reduce hunger, and improve the quality of life for people in Malawi. Legumes are long term and improve soil quality yearly. I believe that the Soils, Food, and Healthy Communities Project are a better way towards sustainable agriculture. Pesticides and fertilizers can only go so far, and are expensive and dangerous. Just as Malthus believed, the notion that we could grow forever is ridiculous, however, methods of agriculture need to be revolutionized in order to reduce hunger and sustain life on earth as the population continues to rise.