Kavitengo in Traditional Authority (T/A) Kampingo Sibande in Mzimba District used to be green with flowing streams but today, years of charcoal production, cutting trees and unsustainable farming have left the land bare.
Communities now walk kilometres in search of water and firewood as well as harvest less maize as they watch their roads and soil wash away every rainy season.
A farmer Mary Nkosi, 45, from group village head (GVH) Kavitengo said in an interview on Saturday that she used to harvest 10 bags on a small piece of land, but now she manages three bags because the land is tired.
“People started cutting trees for charcoal and clearing forests for millet production over 15 years ago. However, the consequences are huge as there is no firewood near the village and weather has changed,” she said.
GVH Kavitengo said to restore the vegetative cover, organisations such as Cooperative Development Foundation of Canada are working with local communities by providing seedlings to embark on tree-planting exercises.
Mzimba district forestry officer Masozi Shaba said her office was facing human and financial resource constraints such that it was struggling to monitor deforestation practices in many areas around Mzimba, including Mqocha.
The Nation also established that in many parts of Mzimba North, deforestation has forced people to use petrol to burn their bricks.
Mzuzu University expert for Renewable Energy Technologies and Team leader of bioenergy research group, Maxon Lexon Chitawo, said scarcity of firewood is affecting people’s lives in many ways, including the construction sector and households.
He said in rural areas, firewood is the main source energy for curing bricks although existing regulations in the construction sector promote the use of cement blocks.
“With the rising cost in cement, it is likely that most Malawians in rural areas will continue to use burnt bricks for construction,” said Chitawo.
