Farmers’ toil pays off
Farmers under Nsuwadzi Catchment in Maonga Village, Sub-traditional Authority Mlenga in Thyolo District, are maximising their returns through sustainable land management.
Here, Gyson Chipangula and his family has been farming since 1980, but with little to show for it until they switched to methods that yield more amid climate change and environmental degradation.
They own three ponds in the middle of a flourishing woodlot engulfed by a leafy tea field.
“We catch at least 360 kilogrammes of fish every year,” he says. “Each kilo fetches K5 000, translating to K1.8 million annually.”
The Chipangulas have bought land and built a decent home.
They also pay for their children’s education with ease.
The trees and tea fields help reduce water run-off that scrape fertile soil from crop fields and silt rivers.
On her part, Jenipher Chibani keeps two dairy cows, but is also on the rise like the Chipangulas.
She spoke of triple rewards: milk for sale, manure for her maize field and more money from increased crop yields.
“The cows give me 25 litres daily, which I sell at K380 per litre. This brings K285 000 per month,” says Chibani. “Moreover, I’m making money from milk and harvesting more using manure.”
Her family can also afford a balanced diet due to improved income and harvests.
Farmers from 13 villages in the catchment are practising sustainable land management activities. They include planting vetiver grass, reclaiming gullies and making stone bunds, contour ridges and ridge alignment.
Thyolo district land resource conservation officer Madalitso Uledi says integrated catchment conservation and management is bearing the desired fruit in households and target communities.
She says sustainable land management activities are interlinked with well-managed crops, livestock and fish farming. They support ecological resilience and food security.
“Sustainable land management enhances soil fertility and water availability for rewarding fish farming, crop production and more feed for animals,” Uledi states.
She encourages farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices.
“Crop, livestock and fish farming provide food and materials that improve soil fertility and climate resilience,” she explained.
Blantyre Agriculture Development Division chief land resource conservation officer Medson Thole says environmental conservation reduces water stress and soil degradation for the benefit of farmers.
“In the long run, farmers start to harvest more as these initiatives help restore the land, enhance soil moisture retention and increase soil fertility,” he says.
Due to land scarcity in the tea-growing district, Thole feels integrated catchment management gives farmers an opportunity to restore eroded soil since “they have nowhere to open new farms”.
Hannock Maluwa, team leader from Lujeri’s Nchima Tea and Macadamia Estates, says the initiative has eased the pressure exerted on natural resources.
He observes: “If people plant trees in their farms and along riverbanks, the theft of logs from tea estates will decline.”
“Even encroachment on the company’s land will fall and they will stop opening up farms since their fields will be fertile again.”
Thyolo district acting director of agriculture and natural resources Mphatso Kafuwa says scaling up sustainable agricultural practices and conservation interventions in all areas can improve livelihoods.
“We want these modern agricultural methods to be done in the farmers’ fields, in the villages as well as in the hilly areas where gullies need to be reclaimed,” he says.
His office works with agriculture extension coordinators chiefs, village natural resources committees and local agricultural committees to promote the recommended practices.
Kafuwa envisions the project creating communities where every household achieves food sufficiency and sells surplus to improve their income and livelihood as do the Chipangulas and Chibanis.
He says: “We want to reach a point where all degraded land has been restored; all the gullies reclaimed and our forests return to their lost glory.”
