Don’t deplete Matandwe Forest, Nsanje people told
Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change Owen Chomanika has warned people in Nsanje against depleting Matandwe Forest Reserve in the district.
He said this on Saturday at Mwanda Village, Traditional Authority Malemia when he engaged stakeholders on how to promote and domesticate jaetorhiza palimata (thabalaba) tuber which has medicinal properties.
However, Chomanika bemoaned that out of the 109 employees required to protect the forest only 32 are working.
“We support the move to domesticate the crop because globally, it is found only in Nsanje, Malawi. I am delighted to hear that people sell it at K5 000 per kilogramme, but in European countries the crop is attracting good prices,” he said.

Nolipher Mponya, who led a research on the crop, said there is evidence that the crop can do well if they domesticate it.
She said their 11-month research indicates that the crop, which grows naturally in the forest, is being depleted.
“We found that initially, the crop thrived on 16 hectares (ha) but only 13ha remain. This shows that if we do not domesticate it, it will be wiped out,” said Mponya.
Mwanda Thabalaba Conservation Association vice-chairperson Lucy Donasi said the crop has the potential to replace cotton which is not doing well in the Shire Valley.
“We have constructed decent houses and we support our children in school through proceeds from the tubers,” she said.
Shire Valley Transformation Programme deputy project coordinator Limbani Gomani, whose organisation funded the research, said they are supporting the initiative to domesticate the crop to empower people economically.
Matandwe Forest Reserve is part of the Kirk Range Mountains which stretch from Nsanje passing through Chikwawa, Neno, Ntcheu, Dedza to Dzalanyama Forest in Lilongwe