Gift Peter, 36, of Ngunga Village in Zomba District endured a scorching half-decade of burning charcoal, but got nothing to show for his sweat.

The father of two regrets the 2016 switch from slavish piecework to making charcoal on Zomba Plateau.

“I was lured by the overwhelming demand for charcoal in Zomba City at the bottom of the mountain,” he says.

Nearly nine in every 10 households in Malawi use firewood and charcoal for cooking, according to the 2018 census. The appetite for the outlawed forest produce is sustained by low access to reliable and affordable sustainable energy, with just about 12 percent of the population connected to the national grid and only one percent of them using electricity for cooking.

Peter says despite sweating profusely producing and transporting charcoal, he could not feed his family twice a day.

“I worked from dusk till dawn only to get two bags that fetched K5 000 each,” he recalls.

Charcoal business is partly blamed for wiping out natural trees nationwide, worsening poverty and hunger as racing rainwater on bare slopes scrape fertile soils from crop fields amid climate change.

Peter inspects a beehive in Denesi forest

“We betrayed ourselves as soil erosion fuelled by the loss of forests left our fields barren,” he says.

Environmental degradation worsens subsistent farmers’ vulnerability to climate-related shocks such as floods, drought and dry spells, reports the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Peter’s one-acre field produced only three bags out of the possible 60, just enough food to feed his family for two months.

Andrew Mponda says farmers “toiled in vain” as charcoal money couldn’t buy enough food to take them to the next harvest.

This haunted 182 households at the foot of Jerenje Peak on Zomba Mountain where run-offs and floods persistently destroyed homes, crops, livestock and other assets.

In 2021, they started erecting structures to improve community resilience to climate-related disasters, including soil degradation and dwindling crop yields.

Thanks to communal efforts to conserve degraded landscapes, Peter now yields no less than 20 bags from his field.

“The damage to our crop fields and property is declining,” he says.

The hilly community has adopted sustainable land management practices under the Malawi Watershed Services Improvement Project (Mwasip) funded by the World Bank. Their landscape restoration and watershed management interventions include establishment of swales, eyebrow basins, deep trenches and check dams to harvest rainwater on the slopes of Jerenje Hills and along Namitembo River.

They have also planted trees and kept hands off stumpy forests.

In bare fields and eroded slopes, they have created stone bunds.

“These structures retain rainwater, curbing run-offs that once eroded soil fertility. This helps our crops to thrive even during dry spells,” Peter says.

The project also promotes climate-smart agriculture, including manure production and use.

Peter uses manure to reduce dependence on costly chemical fertiliser and improve soil fertility, texture and water retention in the wake of erratic rainfall.

“Manure holds soil moisture long enough for crops to do better. Besides, we use locally available materials,” he says.

The rural community has switched to Chitetezo Mbaula, which consumes up to half the firewood required by the traditional three-stone fireplaces.

Chimwemwe Chalera says the energy-efficient cookstoves have reduced the long walks to fetch firewood and deadly fumes from open fires.

“With three sticks from our backyards, we cook for the whole family. We no longer have to make weekly trips uphill to get bulky bundles,” she says.

Finyamatumbo Village Natural Resources Management Committee members received K1.5 million for soft loans in support of sustainable income-generating activities.

Peter borrowed K20 000 from the revolving fund for an environment-friendly business and started selling fritters and fish.

“With a capital of K46 000, I make a K55 000 profit every month. So far, I’ve built a four-bedroom house and my family gets three nutritious meals a day. We no longer burn charcoal to buy our needs,” he explains.

Mponda, the chairperson of the committee, is happy that forests are returning to bare hills.

“Our commitment to protecting the environment won us the funds for economic activities that save trees for our benefit and the good of future generations,” he says.

The 1.3-hectare Denesi Village Forest hosts 200 beehives that produce honey for sale.

Thondwe agriculture extension development officer Shepherd Numeri says: “These communities have embraced and intensified sustainable land management practices because they are aware of the benefits of a healthy environment and sustainable businesses for their well-being.”

Mwasip technical team member Osward Mulenga is pleased that livelihoods and incomes in targeted communities are improving.

“When the environment wins, people who conserve it win,” he says.

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