Ndirande volunteer environmental protection group providing livestock as farming alternative for members who cultivate on mountainsides

* Funds are generated from sale of compost fertilizer produced from waste which community members provide

* As Ndirande Mountain’s Forestry Season is launched which is part of the annual national period of tree replacement

* Which the government launched yesterday by Vice-President Michael Usi at Lufita Primary School in Chitipa

By Duncan Mlanjira

The Ndirande Community Impact Group, a volunteer gathering of like minds towards the environmental conservation, is facilitating the provision of livestock, such as poultry and pigs, as a farming alternative for some members who cultivate on Ndirande’s mountainsides.

The group’s director, Gift Landani said this today, December 18 during the launch of Ndirande Mountain’s Forestry Season as part of the annual national period of tree replacement, which the government launched yesterday by Vice-President Michael Usi at Lufita Primary School in Chitipa.

The Ndirande Community Impact Group was initiated over three years ago with a focus on waste management, through which they were collecting waste from community members to be used to produce compost fertilizer.

This was after been distressed that residents of Malabada Constituency were disposing their household waste anyhow in open spaces — while markets garbage keep piling up due to failure by the Blantyre City Council to collect the waste.

In the process of compost fertilizer production, they also decided to take their campaign to another level by breeding tree seedlings at their production site at the foot of Ndirande Mountain to replenish the bare landscape.

The compost fertilizer that was produced was targeted at some community members, who cultivate on the mountainsides’ bare land and the group approached them to also practice agroforestry.

These crop cultivators on the forest reserve were enticed to provide dry maize stocks to build on the organic waste, which is collected from community members after piling it at their households to them to recycle it into compost fertilizer.

The Impact Group thus inculcated the culture of tree planting in the promotion of environmental conservation and as their compost fertilizer generates some modest revenue, they decided to initiate and inspire the community members to venture into livestock farming as an alternative from cultivating food crops on the forest reserve.

The Group’s Director Landani said the livestock initiative is a pass-on programme through sharing the offsprings of chickens and pigs amongst themselves to sustain the project.

“The initiative is targeted at community members, especially those who cultivate on the mountainsides, and are willing to be reafforest our beloved Ndirande Mountain to its former glory,” he said.

Present at the launch of Ndirande forestry season were community leaders of Makata, Matope and Gamulani areas of Blantyre Malabada Constituency as well as representatives from the Forestry Department — all in support of the annual tree planting activities.

Landani applauded the support, saying they conduct their activities in liaison with the traditional leaders and the Forestry Department, who assist them in inculcating the tree planting culture amongst the community members.

The group took the traditional leaders and the community gathering on a tour of the mountainside where over 5,000 trees that were planted last year were flourishing at a survival rate of over 75%, as Landani appraised them that at such a rate, “re-afforesting Ndirande Mountain was possible”.

For this season, Landani said they target to plant over 10,000 tree seedlings which are already available at their nursery site where the launch of the forestry season was carried out.

“From the modest revenue we get from production of compost fertlizer, we initiated the idea to invest into livestock production as a pass-on programme and so far it is working despite some challenges such as provision of livestock feeds,” he said.

Representing Chief Matope, Judith Moyo attested that the traditional leaders are in total support of the initiative towards the conservation of Ndirande Mountain’s trees, adding that it was sad to note the rate at which the mountain had been depleted of its forest cover.

She further said the traditional leaders are always civic-educating their subjects on the need to conserve the environment by emphasising that the weather pattern of Cyclone Freddy, that did not spare Ndirande in its devastation, was due to climate change through the worrying rate of deforestation.

“Many lives were lost and houses were swept away in this area due to Cyclone Freddy, which could have been avoided if there was plenty of tree cover on the mountainsides to halt the flow of water to the households below.

“The chiefs are also reminding the rest of the youths to take part in environmental conservation by joining the initiatives by the Community Impact Group,” said, while indicating that they will soon constitute some by-laws to deter people from wanton cutting down of trees.

It was observed that while efforts are there to re-afforest the mountain, there are many others who steal the grown trees at night, thus asked if the authorities will reintroduce patrols by forestry rangers.