Replacing the green of Usisya

BY KAREN MSISKA

Once upon a time, there was green in the beautiful hills around Usisya in Nkhata Bay north. But rarely is that green seen nowadays, very much so even during the rainy season.

In fact, only those hills far enough from people’s homes are still green with trees, all of them indigenous. And brown is the colour that dominates the inhabited areas which are dotted with huge mango trees.

The cone shaped Mphande Hill, standing uncharacteristically on the edge of Lake Malawi but surrounded by flatland extending on the other sides, is an icon of how man’s activities led to the depletion of vegetation in this beautiful land.

Not a long time ago, the area’s rank and file say, the hill was beautifully dressed in natural trees. But as the area’s population swelled, trees started paving way albeit the hill hosts no house.

“We are told people cut down the trees for various domestic uses,” says Tonderai Manoto, Executive Director of Temwa, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working in a number of thematic lines in the area.

“Others started cultivating in the hill, completely taking out the possibility of tree re-growth there. And now they walk long distances into the hills far away from their homes to fetch firewood and other ecosystem benefits like mushrooms.”

What happened in Mphande hill is what happened in the other areas that were not habited or cultivated. And the result has been the brown that dominates most of the areas there.

According to Temwa, there are about 30,000 people from 89 villages in the area. And these are the people that absorb the calamities spat by this treeless area.

Firewood is scarce. Worse still, rains are suddenly becoming irregular leading to low harvests from the maize crop which people there have adopted, thanks to the input subsidy programme.

Previously, these people grew cassava which the current low rainfall would suffice. But they switched crops after learning that the area’s soils were fertile enough to give bumper maize harvests.

“We want to take Usisya back to the good old days by replenishing the forests. We want to dress Mphande Hill with trees and we have particularly talked about the hill with the communities,” added Manoto.

The tree planting exercises fall under the agriculture and forestry thematic line. Selected members of the community were handed skills on effective management of tree nurseries. And most of them are now raising their own woodlots.

Tovia Chirwa, Temwa Project Officer (Forestry), said on a broader spectrum, the organisation initiated the planting of 2,638 tree seedlings in Mphande Hill last year. Unfortunately, a tree by tree count indicated that only 72 survived.

She said people continued to cultivate in the hill and they wantonly set fires that damaged the young trees. The development has forced Temwa to change its approach, according to Manoto.

“They are not stopped from cultivating their crops in the hill. However, we encourage that while they do that they should contribute something by planting some trees in areas they haven’t cultivated,” he added.

“We are also engaging the communities to look after the trees by preparing firebreaks around the woodlots. We are also engaging on part time those who showed interest in planting trees and we will pay for the time they spend tendering the trees.”

Manoto added that communities were further targeted for their use of shifting cultivation in which trees are felled from vast pieces of land just for seasonal agricultural activities.

He said people are so complacent thinking that they have plenty of trees to fell when they see natural trees in the hills especially on the western side of the area.

“We are encouraging every household to plant trees and own these woodlots because they can only get what they are missing now from such woodlots,” he said.

Chirwa added that under the community engagement in the re-greening exercise, the organisation is setting up community nurseries from which respective communities get tree seedlings for planting.

She said the organisations set up 10 community nurseries this planting season adding that each nursery had 20,000 seedlings. This means 200,000 trees were up for planting not only in Mphande Hill but also in surrounding areas.

“We are providing seedlings that individuals can intercrop with their maize under the agroforestry component because they enrich the soil and provide shade to crops or those that they can just plant on their own in woodlots,” she said.

From the training support for farmers to community nurseries and woodlots to paying interested individuals to take care of the planted trees, Temwa looks to have worked an effective trick as regards replacing the green of Usisya. But looking at what has happened before, one would be forgiven if they chose to wait and see how this would work.