This is 36-year-old widow Flossie Liwanga, her five children and three of her late sister (Milka) taking their lunch while sitting on a goatskin mat on the verandah of her muddy grass thatched hut she calls a house.


Liwanga and her family members are lucky to have food during this lean season when Malawi’s staple especially maize, is scarce and where it is found is sold at prices beyond the reach of the poor who cannot afford to spend just $1 per day.

No wonder soon after Malawi Government’s controlled agricultural produce marketer, ADMARC announced few weeks ago that it will be selling a 50 Kg at K3, 000 in its markets across the country many people pleaded with the Bingu wa Mutharika administration to reverse the decision to save poor households from starvation.

One would easily understand the cries because the maize price hike came just after the USAID funded agency, Famine Early Warning System-Network (FEWS-NET) had revealed that over 200, 000 poor Malawians in the southern region of the country were in need of food aid.

In response Malawi Government has even embarked on a food aid distribution exercise to save people from starvation.

This is despite Malawi under Mutharika continues to blow a successful trumpet of attaining food surplus since his government introducing the National Fertilizer Subsidy Programme (NFSP) about seven years ago.


However, Liwanga and her eight family members are not part of souls in need of food aid.

“I still have enough food with my eight family members. In fact we have 36 bags of 50 Kg each in the house from last season’s harvest,” said Liwanga disclosing that her harvest was not even realized for being a beneficiary of the NFSP.

“We were failing to produce food or produced just too little because soil erosion was a major problem due to massive deforestation and poor farming methods here. But we are now able to produce food because we were taught how to conserve the environment including using manure and fertilizer trees leaves to boost food production in our gardens,"she said.

Due to rampant environmental degradation in areas of Kuntaja and Kapeni malaise spread inexorably across the land, flash floods gouged huge gullies across the rolling hills and entire chunks of red earth were swept away. Rivers within the area even began to silt up.

Drought also scorched the soil into fine grains and winds then swept them away. Even the entire climate routine became unpredictable and farmers say it would not be reversed.

Agnes Robben said as a result harvests began to fail as farmers attained low or no yields at all even when they used expensive fertilizers.

“So hunger began to stalk our villages and during particularly difficult times like lean season, we didn't have food to give our children," said Robben, a mother of three children from Kumpondu Village in the same area adding, "As a result we often had to rely on government food handouts."

The chain of environmental problems that were fueling hunger in the two areas in return forced children to drop out of school. The health of some people even began to deteriorate due to malnutrition.

“Our area was one of the places very rich with natural resources such as fertile soils, indigenous trees, rivers that were flowing throughout the year,”said Robben adding that the causes of the crisis were well known to local communities in the two areas.

“As our once fertile areas soared in recent decades as farmers, we needed more land to feed our families hence forests were wantonly cut down to open new farm land and for firewood, charcoal processing including building materials for houses. Stripped of its cover and scarred by bad farming practices, the land and the streams and rivers deteriorated rapidly,” she explained.

To heal their environment local communities in the area have been constructing rock, wood and bamboo barriers across numerous gullies to prevent further soil loss when the rains arrive.

On the hillsides of maize, vegetables and other crops are being contoured and stepped to both encourage water preservation and halt water runoffs.

“We have learnt to conserve soil, water, forestry and land resources from Malawi Government and JICA [Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)] experts hence slowly healing our once sick environment,” said Robben.

When you just step your foot in villages of T/As Kuntaja and Kapeni in Middle Shire Area in Blantyre District, southern Malawi your forehead, arm pits all turn into your body's own water springs especially during dry season.

Yes! Through releasing sweat profusely due to fierce scorching sun rays and you even struggle in these two areas to find a tree shade to escape the sun heat because they are suffering from climate change hangovers.

The two areas have among other things in recent years been experiencing droughts and floods as a result of climate change due to rampant environmental degradation activities such as deforestation, charcoal burning and poor land uses by local communities.

The activities have even borne bitter fruits such as rising temperatures and persistent droughts that have been reducing food production in the fields.

Yet due to the local communities' ignorance about climate change in these same areas people were pointing fingers at one another on suspicion that they lock rains using magic powers to cause droughts that fuel low food production in the fields!

Late 39-year-old Amos Golosi is just one of such claims' victims. He now lies below a 7 feet below grave in Thanganyika Village, T/A Kuntaja in Blantyre.

He died after hanging himself in a tree after getting angered by his local chief. The chief summoned Golosi for interrogations on allegations that, using his own magic powers locked rains causing drought in his village in the process.

But what is the secret behind Liwanga producing adequate food for her and her family members in this same area?

Cecilia Chauluka confirmed that it had to take Malawi Government jointly with JICA kick-starting the Community Vitalization and Afforestation in Middle Shire (COVAMS) Project to assist communities in the two areas (Kuntaja and Kapeni) understand about causes and effects of climate change and impart some skills to them on how to start the healing process of their area's sick environment and benefit from such activities themselves.

“Environmental degradation activities in the area resulted into rural people experiencing poor maize production, high demand for fuel wood and water supply,” said Chauluka also the Project Director adding that heavy siltation in the area has also affected 98 percent of Malawi’s electricity power generation by Malawi's sole state controlled but tax payers financed supplier, Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM).

“The project’s main objective therefore, is to ensure that the area is protected to reduce siltation, improve agricultural productivity especially maize production, improve water supply and provide forestry resources and products to the communities,”she said.

As of 2009 COVAMS project was implemented in 50 villages, (5,000 households), trained 97 Lead Farmers who have in return conducted over 130 training sessions in soil erosion control for fellow farmers in the communities.

“Over 3,000 people have participated in the trainings including 1,600 farmers or 3 members of each household in the local communities. This has resulted in over 300 hectares and 3,000 metres cubed of area in soil conserved and protected respectively and enabled communities produce food in their gardens,” said Chauluka.

She disclosed that since the project started in November 2007 the number of villages involved has been increasing to the extent of overwhelming staff workers on the ground.

“By 2008 there were just seven villages but rose to 43 before reaching 50 by the end of 2009. Another 119 more villages joined the project in 2010 hence the total number of villages reached 169,”said Chauluka adding that 80 more villages were expected to join the project between last year and this year.

She explained that the total number of villages in the project has managed to reach out 240 or more (or 25,000 households) and 50 percent of farmers were able to practice soil conservation activities for food production in the area.

By last year the five-year project initially managed to reach a population of 100,000 rural people with various skills to censerve the environment in their area.

Chauluka further expounded that the project targets to cover the whole Middle Shire Area and sustain itself after phasing out this year.

She however, said after the project phases out local communities will continue reaping from practicing what they had learnt.

“What is required is simply for the communities to continue implementing what they have been taught on how to conserve the environment while producing food in their fields at the same time,” said Chauluka.

Village Headman Chitawira in T/A Kuntaja said before the project was introduced in the two areas people in the local communities would around this time around sleep on empty stomachs.

“Most households in this area just like in most parts of the country during this lean season have no food. But since the project was implemented most households are benefiting in one way or the other through bumper harvests, investing in fuel wood and fruit production after planting trees,” he said.

Chitawira further disclose that apart from soil conservation and other initiatives to heal their environment local communities we were also trained in beekeeping as an Income Generating Activity (IGA).

“Infact in return this has even been motivating our communities to produce more tree seedlings including indigenous ones for planting on the areas that were left bare due to massive deforestation,” said the chief.

During the interview Kuntaja disclosed that the communities had so far planted over 37,000 trees and watering the seedlings to prevent them from withering.

Doris Sitima is one of the 24 villagers from Chitawira involved in tree seedling production and tree planting under COVAMS Project and explained how the project had affected her life.

“Since joining the project my life has changed. I used to struggle to source trees for firewood and other uses after trees were wantonly cut down in our area. But now I am able to get them from my own woodlot,” said Sitima.

Enelles Kamvazina from the same village disclosed that they are able to benefit from forestry products because the tree species sowed and planted take just about 12 months to mature for harvesting.

Emily Sungeni also Village Headwoman Chiwaro in T/A Kapeni on the other hand said: “If beekeeping is fully exploited in our area it can reduce poverty as well as help us generate resources to take care of over 20 children orphaned by HIV and AIDS and over 10 elderly people who were identified in our community and are too poor to fend for themselves.”

Sebastius Mbewe, a forestry officer from Blantyre District Forestry Office has interacted with Kuntaja and Kapeni local communities in the project.

He said the success of the project in Kuntaja and Kapeni is a clear testimony that if local communities are empowered to heal and protect the environment it can change their lives for instance, from hungry to food secure households.

“In agriculture dependent countries such as Malawi there is a great link between sustainable use of natural resources such as land, water, forests, air and bumper food harvests in the field including hunger reduction, economic development as well as poverty reduction,” said Mbewe.

He said it was therefore, encouraging that local communities in Kuntaja and Kapeni areas were balancing between the sustainable use of natural resources by applying the skills they have learnt from COVAMS Project on one hand and producing food to eradicate hunger and poverty as well as protect the environment on the other.

“COVAMS Project is a joint initiative between Government of Malawi and the Government of Japan through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which has improved poor households’ livelihoods,” said Mbewe.

He disclosed that apart from conserving soil strategies for maize production local communities are able to produce food without artificial fertilizer.

“Instead crops grow alongside fertilizer trees and are more likely to give a farmer a better yield as they don’t wither easily because of (lack of) moisture. The trees, which increase fertilizing nitrogen in the soil, don’t grow taller than the maize crop. So they don’t stifle the growth of the maize. The leaves falling from the trees on the other hand cover the ground,” said Mbewe.

He further explained that when it rains, the layer on the ground traps the raindrops, preventing them from accumulating into runoff.

“The leaves also aid percolation into the soil. When it’s sunny, the tree canopies shade the ground and the fallen leaves help keep the moisture in the soil. In areas of T/As Kapeni and Kuntaja the local communities’ decision to participate in COVAMS Project activities has therefore seen them reaping what they were sowing,” said Mbewe adding that the benefits include transforming their households into food secure homes.

He disclosed that the two areas were also conserving the environment by planting trees on bare land.

“Areas in T/As Kapeni and Kuntaja are just some of the hot spots where rampant environmental degradation activities such as deforestation for charcoal production and shifting cultivation took place in the southern region of the country,” said Mbewe.


Malawi may not achieve strides in social-economic development and eradicate rampant poverty currently outweighing majority citizens unless its policy-makers mainstream the environment in all development programmes also known as ‘Green economy.”

This is revealed in a study by experts (including Malawians) James L.L. Banda, Sosten Chiotha, Joseph Kalowekamo, Themba Kalua, Daisy Kambalame-Kalima, Boyd Hamella, Michael Mmangisa, Gibson Mphepo, Nyuma Mughogho, Dennis Mulebe, Friday Njaya, Elliot Phiri, Benon Yassin, Gil Yaron.

“If the stocks and flows of environmental assets are properly recognized, valued, and treated positively, Malawi could develop a truly green economy – wealth generation and social justice, all within ecological limits,” they say.

The experts say Malawi, with a population of over 13 million and an annual growth rate of about 3 percent is more dependent on environmental assets than most other countries, with over 80 per every 100 of citizens involved in farming.
“The country is also vulnerable to environmental risks, such as floods and droughts and long-term climate change,” they say.

The researchers therefore, recommend that if Malawi is to boost social-economic development to eradicate poverty it requires ‘environmental mainstreaming’: integrating environment into development policies, plans and budgets, as well as into day-to-day management.

Even Steve Bass, Head of Sustainable Markets Group at the London United Kingdom (UK) based Environmental issues think tank, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) emphasized the need for the global village in the face of the on-going global financial crisis to marry environment and development.

He said some societies and policy-makers on the planet have already realized that social-economic development and poverty eradication cannot be achieved without incorporating the sustainable use of natural resources and the environment.

“Governments and businesses [globally] have begun to trumpet ‘green growth’ as one way of boosting economic growth without compromising environmental sustainability,” said Bass.

Recently, during the launch of five reports on Malawi’s environment at Golden Peacock Hotel in Lilongwe it was revealed that the tiny agriculture-dependent economy southern African nation loses over $190 million (close to K30 billion) every year due to unsustainable use of its natural resource.

The money lost it was observed was more than the total funding allocated to Malawi’s education and health sector budgets in the 2009 national budget.

The loss is contained in a document on the Economic Valuation of Sustainable Natural Resource use in Malawi which was launched alongside four others by Deputy Natural resources, Energy and Environment Minister Verah Chilewani.

The other four documents are the Malawi State of the Environment and Outlook Report (SOER), Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for Environment and Natural Resources Management, Environmental Sustainability Criteria Framework and the Second National Communication on Climate Change.

“In fact if Malawi managed the environment well the country would have even reduced current poverty levels by 10 percent. There is compelling evidence that unsustainable natural resource management is leading to increased poverty in Malawi,” said Ministry of Finance’s Development Planning Director Yona Kamphale.

He disclosed that among others, the largest costs result from the loss of agricultural productivity as a result of soil degradation, deforestation in catchments around the main urban centres to supply firewood and charcoal and unsustainable fishing.

“The current policy of banning charcoal production from protected areas has not only proved ineffective but also encouraged illicit charcoal production, corruption and deprives the government of tax revenue,” said Kamphale adding that successful strategy to tackle deforestation is to address practice of charcoal burning and cutting down of trees for firewood.

One of Malawi’s few environmental experts Sosten Chiotha said the report has come at a right time.

“It gives Malawi time to reflect on the future,” he said. Verah Chilewani on the other hand said the report will enhance the value of natural resources in Malawi which are mostly seen as free goods and therefore, subjected to overexploitation.

Malawi’s unsustainable natural resources use not only puts government at risk of failing to achieve Millenium Development Goal (MDG) number seven calling societies in the global community to integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources but also MDG number one aiming at cutting by half the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day by 2015.

Environmental degradation and unsustainable natural resources in Malawi even puts Capital Hill in Lilongwe at a fix to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger in the country also by 2015 because they are all linked due to Malawi’s reliance on agriculture for economic growth.