People in Traditional Authority Msakambewa in Dowa District have commended land restoration interventions for improving soil fertility in the area.
The communities implemented interventions such as swales, growing vertiver grass and reclaiming gullies under Climate-Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme.
In an interview on Monday, Chisato Catchment Area chairperson Velentina Yohane said the area used to experience soil erosion due to deforestation.
She said: “Community members worked hard to implement the interventions to build resilience to climate change shocks such as floods and dry spells.
“We also learned how to make manure and grow crops using modern technologies.”
On his part, Chisato Catchment Management Committee secretary Christopher Banda said community members who were not part of the programme initially resisted the interventions.
“But after noticing the benefits, for example with pit farming, swales, infiltration pits, many now are demanding that we extend the interventions in their farms,” he said.
Banda also said the programme has empowered people economically as they receive wages after working in catchment areas.
Dowa district project facilitator Kingster Kathumba said the project has 23 486 participants in 23 micro-catchment areas.
“Dowa was one of the districts which experienced a significant depletion of natural resources, but through this project and other interventions, we have seen improvements in afforestation and land resource conservation,” he said.
The National Local Government Finance Committee is implementing the programme in the country’s 28 local councils with funding from the World Bank and the Multi-Donor Trust Fund
