March 2010

ENVIRONMENT

Forest Conservation Project
Nkhata Bay District has beautiful, large forests, some of the last in Malawi, but these forests are under threat due to a fast-growing local population and also because Malawians from other districts where land is at a premium are moving into the area. Wherever there is an abundance of resources, man rarely values it until it is gone and, in the dry season during October and November, we are increasingly aware of the smoke from the many fires in the forested hills behind the lakeshore. The farmers use poor agricultural techniques and, consequently, exhaust the nutrients in the soil, and so, every year, more and more farmers indiscriminately cut down large areas of forest and burn the trees where they fall to clear land for new farms. For a number of years now, we have been helping communities to plant trees, and it is heartbreaking to see somebody planting a few small tree seedlings when just metres away his neighbour has cleared, cut and burnt an area of virgin forest.

Just over a year ago, we took our Traditional Authority (TA), Chief Fukamapiri, and a number of chiefs up into the hills to witness this problem. We discussed ways of controlling the rampant deforestation and, although we have literally no money for this, we decided to start a forest conservation project. Chief Fukamapiri is fully behind this project, and Force Ngwira, our Environmental Projects Manager, and his team organised meetings with the TA’s 47 chiefs. As it turned out, all of them were passionate about reducing the deforestation but they just did not know how to go about it. Since then, each chief has selected a conservation committee comprising 10 members of his community, and these people, together with the chief, are the major stakeholders of this project.

Our aim is to conserve and protect hundreds of square kilometres of forest. The first step was for the chiefs and their committees to identify land they wish to protect in their areas. Typically, these are steep hills either with existing forest or with areas that have been deforested and need to be rehabilitated. So far, we have received sketch maps from all 34 chiefs — the remaining 13 chiefs are in the lowland area by the lakeshore and do not have any hilly areas to conserve.

In October 2009, Geoff and David Newman (a horticulturist working as a consultant with RIPPLE Africa on a voluntary basis) attended a very encouraging meeting with all of the chiefs, and a simple set of bylaws were proposed and agreed. The next stage is for the protected areas identified by each chief and his conservation committee to be registered with the District Assembly, and then these areas will legally become protected. Once this is done, the real work begins. We have already been holding meetings with communities to discuss the effects of deforestation, namely, erosion, land degradation and climate change, and some areas are already experiencing less rainfall due to the reduced number of trees on the hills.

Deforestation at Tungwe Hill
We went to visit Village Headman Kakhongwe at a place called Tungwe Hill. This chief and his conservation committee are very aware of the devastating effects of deforestation on Tungwe Hill. We all walked to the hill to see the problems for ourselves. There is extensive erosion, and very few crops are being grown successfully on the steep slopes. The soil is rocky, and large areas of ground are just bare earth where nothing grows. The chief wants to rehabilitate this area by planting trees and also protect other areas of forest which fall under his jurisdiction. It was very encouraging to see that it is the local people who want to preserve their environment, rather than just a group of people from the West. The whole conservation project will only work if the chiefs and the people really want it to happen. It is, after all, their land, and the key to the success of this project is motivating people to value their environment so that their children and grandchildren can benefit from it in the future.

New RIPPLE Africa Step-by-Step Guide is Helping
Our tree planting project has always been very ambitious, and Force Ngwira, our Environmental Projects Manager, has been keen to deliver large numbers of tree seedlings for our donors. However, we only have a relatively small team and very limited resources, so it has been difficult to maintain high standards in all of the community tree nurseries.

One of the best ways to learn is by experience and by making mistakes. For some time now, we have been wanting to have accurate records from all of our community tree nurseries, including the quantities and types of trees at nursery level plus information on the trees that have been planted out. It has been difficult to gather all of this information, and this is complicated further by limited computer skills for documenting it.

On our visit in May 2009, we observed a number of weaknesses in our programme — the main weakness being that there really is a shortage of land on which to plant trees. Although trees were grown at nursery level, there was often insufficient land to plant them out, and there have been cases where seedlings have been left in the nurseries. There have also been issues where newly planted trees have been burnt due to inadequate care and maintenance of the planting site. Initially, we had wanted to plant a large number of indigenous trees — this is very often what our donors wanted — but the reality is that the vast majority of trees that are being grown are for consumption, i.e. for firewood, timber, or fruit.

Kalwe Forest is Cleared for New District Hospital … Possibly!
On the road between Nkhata Bay and Mzuzu, at a place called Kalwe, there was a beautiful forest reserve. We visited it several times as it was the best example of primary forest that we have ever seen in Malawi. Although the forest only covered an area of about 40 acres, one could see how Malawi used to be in years gone by. In fact, in many places where there are hardly any trees now there used to be a canopy right across the road, and people can still remember this. So we were very sad to hear the news that the area had been identified as the site for a new hospital to replace the old District hospital in Nkhata Bay. It seemed crazy to us that this area had been selected because there were so many other locations nearby that would be far more practical.

Unfortunately, however, there was nothing we could do about it. The chain saws and bulldozers arrived, and the pictures above show the terrible destruction. We are not sure who is funding this project, but we understand that no money is forthcoming at the moment to start construction of the hospital, so the loss of trees may have been for nothing. Not only has there been destruction on the site, but now it is a free-for-all for the local people who are cutting down the trees in the remaining forest. The government keeps talking about conservation and tree planting, but activities like this have to stop to show people that the government of Malawi is serious about conserving their forests.

How Are the RIPPLE Africa Trees Growing?
Well, growing trees is a slow process. There is a saying that the best time to plant trees is 20 years ago, and how true that is. But we are pleased to say that there is good evidence on the ground that RIPPLE Africa’s trees are growing successfully. We estimate that we have grown 3 million trees to date and, although some will have failed, it is very rewarding to see our trees growing and to see well managed woodlots. When we first started tree planting, we put a lot of emphasis on the community tree nurseries and really did not appreciate how much time it takes to prepare and maintain the planting site. This needs to be done for the first three years, and then the trees should be large enough to look after themselves. We have estimated that each tree takes about 20 minutes’ preparation time when it is planted out. Although this does not sound very long, it adds up to a lot of minutes when there are 3 million trees!

One problem we have had in this respect is that community members give their time for free and, as with many of these types of projects, it is only a few people who do all the work. This year, we have tried to encourage individual farmers who are members of the community tree clubs to prepare their own land and grow their own trees from which they will be able to profit at a later date. This system is working far better as there is real ownership. In addition to this, we have piloted a programme to give the farmers an incentive to prepare their land in good time by providing groundnuts which can be planted between the trees. These will not only produce food and seed for the following year, but they are also good for the soil. We will be seeing the results of this initiative on our next trip in May 2010.

Improvements with the Fruit Tree Project
Although all of our 100 community tree nurseries are growing some fruit trees, we have decided to nominate 20 specialist nurseries in key locations to really develop the fruit tree programme. Each fruit tree club has planted a budding orchard with about 60 tangerine, orange, and mango trees. These trees will provide budwood and mother trees for grafting in the years to come. We had to roll this programme out quite quickly and, when we visited these fruit clubs in May 2009, we were rather disappointed with the results. The citrus trees were suffering from poor management — good compost had not been used, there was no mulching, trees had whitefly and caterpillars, and they were not being watered regularly. We spent time with our environmental projects team who then went out to the clubs and provided detailed training. We have also put together a simple step-by-step guide for fruit tree production.

When we re-visited the sites in October 2009, there was an amazing transformation. Fumbani, who is the RIPPLE Africa fruit tree project coordinator, had really improved standards. Trees had been sprayed for whitefly, and they had also been fertilised, mulched and watered. We cannot wait to see the trees in May 2010 after the rainy season has finished.

Fruit Tree Production at Mwaya
The fruit tree nursery at Mwaya, which is now being managed by Catherine, is far better organised than it has ever been. We are specialising in fruit tree production, particularly citrus, and we have also purchased some land locally to set up more orchards.

Beekeeping and Fish Farming
Our beekeeping projects have not developed very much this year because there has been so much to do with all of our other projects. However, beehives are hanging at Kafuli Hill, and bees have colonised many of these. On our next visit, we will be able to see how this project is progressing.

Likewise, the fish farming project is still producing poor results. Although we have had thousands of fish, the feeding programme has been insufficient which has resulted in stunted growth, and we are told that these fish will not grow to maturity. We have also had a problem with the ducks we purchased for the ponds because, according to Hedges, the person looking after the ponds, a python living close by has eaten several (we are not sure, however, if the python is a human one!).

We want to persevere with this project, and we are very grateful to Julian who visited us in June 2009. He was impressed with the project and gave us an envelope with US$1,000 in it as he was leaving Mwaya at the end of his stay. We are now employing an expert who is running a successful fish pond project to the north of our area. He is advising us on feeding regimes and water treatment. It would appear that the cost of inputs, i.e. food, etc., is about the same value as the amount received when the fish are sold, but money can be made on selling the fingerings (baby fish), so we will have to see.

We have also received a donation from the Herrod Foundation for both the beekeeping and fish farming projects, so we are hoping to produce some good results for them.

Ruben’s Garden and His Brilliant Irrigation System
We have also been persevering with various vegetable projects over the years with disappointing results, but this year Ruben has developed a fantastic garden with a proper irrigation system using channels and a treadle pump. He has grown maize during the dry season and also special true-to-type seeds provided by David Newman. These seeds are generally from older varieties of vegetables and fruits, and you can successfully grow the same type and quality of produce from their seeds. So far, we have had some good success from melons, pumpkins, and courgettes. For the first time, the vegetable garden has generated a good profit for Ruben and has attracted the interest of other local farmers which is what it is all about.