2. Analysis of the Challenges
The heart of the problem is Malawi’s high population
density and its impact on natural resources.
There are other economic forces driving environmental
degradation
Understanding the challenges in the local context is the
first step in developing a practical plan to address them in
a sustainable manner.
3. Agriculture - Implications for Farmers
• Despite massive efforts to promote production-increasing technologies,
60% of households live below the poverty line. Another 20% are only
marginally better.
• Land holdings are shrinking and becoming more fragmented with
declining soil fertility and falling crop yields.
• Marginal areas have been converted to farming with devastating levels of
degradation from unsustainable land-use practices.
• Fallows have been replaced by continuous cultivation under the
destructive, labor-intensive practice of ridging with a focus on mono-
cropping and subsidized chemical inputs at the expense of more
sustainable options.
• Most households lack the resources, capital and support to undertake
sound agronomic and animal husbandry practices.
• In their struggle to survive, farmers are unable to make the critical trade-
off between sustained resource use and immediate short-term needs.
4. Environment Impacts analysis
Growing demands for wood and farm land are causing serious
soil and forest degradation with devastating consequences :
• Supplies of wood to meet basic needs are being depleted,
forcing greater time and effort to find, cut and carry wood,
depriving them of other opportunities
• Ground water is not being replenished and stream flows are
decreasing, limiting access to water for basic domestic and
farm needs
• Silt deposits in rivers, lakes and dams impact fisheries and
hydro-power
• Runoff and loss of top soil: More than 50% of the rainfall
runs off the farm carrying an average of 20 tons of top soil/ha
every season with upwards of 100 tons on steep lands.
5. Forestry - The Deforestation Challenge:
Demand for farm land and wood for fuel & construction
6. Drivers of deforestation in
Malawi
About 30% of the Urban Population
depends on Firewood for Cooking
8-10 tons wood is needed to make
1 ton of charcoal in local kilns
• Flue Cured Tobacco needs 18
cubic meters of solid wood (10
tons) to cure 1 ton of Tobacco
• Burley Tobacco Sheds require an
average of 8.5 m3 of wood to cure
1 ton of tobacco over the life of the
shed
7. 11.01
5.51
0.73
1.70
1.58
0.94 0.29 0.19
MALAWI: Wood Use in 2014 (millions of m3)
Rural Firewood 50.2% Urban Charcoal 25.1%
Urban Firewood 3.3% Tobacco 7.7%
Brick Making + Industry 7.2% Building by Rural HHs 4.3%
Building by Urban HHs 1.3% Tea 0.9%
8. Basis for Calculations on Wood Use
• Population: UN estimates for 2014
• Rural & Urban Firewood: 4.38 m3 per ann / HH at 6
kg per day (others report 8-10 kg)
• Urban Charcoal: Wood equivalent of 14.6 m3 per
annum / HH (2.5 kg per day at a ratio of 8:1 to convert
wood into charcoal – conservative ratio)
• Tobacco/Tea: Wood needs to cure the 2014 crop
• Brick / Lime Making / other Industrial Uses: Figures
on this are conservative estimates
• Building for Rural & Urban HHs: Wood for
constructing houses and farm structures
10. TLC’s Development Philosophy
TLC programs focus on an interactive community approach to
build local capacity for sustained improvements in agricultural
productivity, diversification, natural resource management and
incomes
• The aim is to instill a strong sense of ownership and
responsibility by transferring knowledge, skills and
resources for communities to become self-sufficient under
the slogan of “giving a hand-up, not a hand-out”.
• Extension services emphasize a diverse range of
“proven” interventions to address multiple needs which
create synergies for sustainability and impact.
11. Key Land Care Interventions in Malawi – TLC
Community-Based Natural Resource Management:
Assist communities to establish/improve local governance structures to support
development of co-management agreements with Govt. Agencies
Train and support communities to raise and plant tree and bamboo seedlings
Develop capacity of communities to manage land for natural regeneration
Introduce fuel-efficient stoves to reduce wood use
Environmentally Sound Agricultural Practices
Promote conservation agriculture with min tillage, good soil cover and
rotations/intercrops
Support Agroforestry initiatives and Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration
Integrate other conservation practices such as contour hedges of vetiver and
leguminous shrubs (Tephrosia, Sesbania, Gliricidia)
Increased Productivity & Profitability by Diversification & Intensification:
Promote diversification with crops and livestock that are well adapted to the local
agro-ecology and farming system with varieties resistant to drought and diseases
Support low-cost irrigation in areas where there is suitable land to increase food
security, incomes, diet diversity and nutrition
Encourage production of high value crops with links to good input and output
markets (e,g,, spices, vegetables, tree crops such as coffee and macadamia)
12. TLC Agricultural & NRM Interventions
Cons Agriculture
Improved
Stoves
Improved Livestock
Tree
Planting
Natural Regeneration
CA with Faidherbia
Winter
Irrigation
Treadle Pump
Irrigation
•CDMAFRICASUSTAINABLEENERGYPROGRAMME
Diversification with
Sugar Beans under CA
13. Positive impact on maize under the canopy of Faidherbia
trees during a dry spell due to the improved micro-
environment (left) and with a good maize crop (right)
Integration of CA with Faidherbia
14. FARM DIVERSIFICATION
• Decrease vulnerability of households to the risks of crop
failure from dependence on a limited range of crops
under the growing unpredictable nature of weather
• Increase diet diversity for better nutrition in rural
households
• Reduce pest and disease problems from mono-cropping
• Offer opportunities to hedge risks and make larger profits
due to widely fluctuating prices in the market for different
commodities.
16. Opportunities with Small Livestock
Production Using the Pass-On System
Purpose:
• Milk
• Meat
• Cash
• Live bank
• Status
• Manure
Use improved local breeds that are hardy and well
adapted to the local environment
Increasing demand for animal protein
High reproduction rate with low investment in capital,
land and labor = high return in income / protein.
Easy to manage, low incidence of disease, drought
tolerant and feeding flexibility.
Meat acceptability: No taboos or religious restrictions
hence easy marketing.
Goats: 2-5 females/HH with 1 He-Goat per 30 females (group of Hholds)
Chickens: 10-20 hens + 1 cock /HH
17. Community Based Natural Resource
Management Interventions
Developing community
based action plans
Raising community
tree nurseries
Raising community
woodlots
Natural Regeneration: Easy and flexible to do (no
nurseries or planting), reduces deforestation,
restores biodiversity and provides diverse
products
Management and integration of
existing F/albida into crop
production systems
18. Community Initiatives to Improve Wood
Supplies for Basic Needs
1. Plant trees and bamboo on homesteads, farms
and communal lands
2. Promote natural regeneration on and off farm
3. Introduce improved cook-stoves
Each on its own has limited impact, but
together, they can make a real difference on
deforestation
19. IMPROVED COOK STOVES
Goal: To use carbon credits to finance the cost of
supporting village households to install and use
improved cook stoves.
3-stone fire Improved Cook
Stove
Carbon
Credits
21. TLC Half Wall Kitchen for Good Ventilation to
Reduce Respiratory/Eye Ailments from Smoke
22. Impacts of Improved Cook-Stoves
• Decreases exposure to respiratory diseases
• Lowers noxious effects of smoke to the lungs and eyes
• Eliminates severe burns to children falling into open fires
Health
benefits
• Immediate effects on reducing deforestation
• Cuts wood use & CG emissions by 60% or more
• Lowers threats to climate change
Environment
benefits
• 60% less time by women & girls to collect firewood
• Reduced sexual assaults from fewer trips to the bush
• Great opportunities for IGAs & education for girls
• Potential for carbon revenues
Social &
Economic
benefits
23. Emerging Opportunities for LandCare in
Malawi
• Sustainable Land Management Programmes Frameworks
• Various policies and acts in place (Draft National Climate
change policy, National Environmental Policy 2004,
Environmental Management Act 1996, NAPAs and NAP
(under development) National Climate Investment Plan.
• National Agriculture Policy under Development
• DRM policy in placed
Government
and political
will
• NGOs and Civil Society donor funding
• Adaptation funds, Green Climate funds etc
Donor
Support
• Involvement of CGIAR and research organizations
• Improved partner collaboration and synergy (even
financial and banking sectors)
• Increased community awareness and participation
Improved
Partner
coordination
25. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Information in this presentation was produced by Total
LandCare with support and collaboration from the
Governments of Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique and
Zambia, the Royal Norwegian Embassy, USAID and
the British Government through DFID
TOTAL LANDCARE
P.O. Box 2440
Area 14, Plot 100
Lilongwe, Malawi
Tel: +265 1 770 904 / 905; Fax: +265 1 770 919
Email: total.landcare.mw@gmail.com
Website: www.totallandcare.org
from the British people