Farming communities being sensitised on management of destructive plant species affecting crop productivity
Environmental Affairs Department (EAD), in partnership with Lilongwe Wildlife Trust (LWT) and Wildlife & Environmental Society of Malawi (WESM), are on a serious campaign of informing farming communities being affected by destructive non-native plant species that are infecting their farm productivity and biodiversity in order to control and eradicate its negative effects.
Termed as Invasive Alien Species (IAS), these plants — some deliberately imported or brought in by accident — are one of the biggest threats to biodiversity and livelihoods.
Thus Environmental Affairs Department, Lilongwe Wildlife Trust and Wildlife & Environmental Society of Malawi brought the media together in Mulanje to also sensitise them and amplify to the public that invasive alien species (mulanda malo) are adversely affecting biodiversity — both locally and globally.
They are very persistent plant species that invade and threaten quite a range of habitats, as well as, indirectly, the livelihoods of millions of people depending on natural ecosystems for food, commodities and energy security.
Some of these species are very visible, that include the water hyacinth that clogged the Shire River’s approach to Liwonde Barrage, which has posed a huge and costly challenge to control or clear — rendering Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) to lose huge financial resources to manage the plant.
Another is the plant found on the road approach to Nchalo Trading Centre along Illovo Sugar Malawi estate that is congested with what is locally named there as jacaranda. The road is becoming narrower due to the unattended to plant, which is very thorny and is spreading fast into many parts of Lower Shire.
The carriers are herds of cattle that feeds on its seeds and once spread, this plant become very persistent and invade farmlands and no matter how many times they are uprooted or dug out, they still grow as they have a huge network of small roots.
Not many have realised that the pine tree is an invasive alien specie that was imported a long time ago for its good timber but its repercussion is that when it drops its dry leaves, they smoother the ground surface such that no other indigenous plant grows.
In Mulanje, the journalists visited smallholder farmers of tea and pineapple in Kaponda Village in Traditional Authority Mabuka where the community members attested to how some invasive alien species are affecting their crop productivity and how costly it is to try and manage their widespread.
Some of the invasive species are native and 79-year-old farmer in Kaponda Village, Sikile Enes Phiri said he ventured into tea farming in 1967 and immediately encountered the native invasive plant locally named as Tambala, which has a long network of roots such that when the plant is uprooted, its roots still sprout out within two weeks.
He added that he applies fertilizer to his 0.35 hectares of tea field and that contributes to the tambala to sprout back in such a short period of time.
It is also poses physical harm to the farmers and Enes Phiri said once they get pricked by it, the tiny thorn breaks off and gets sucked into the body and within a short period, the body part gets swollen.
“It’s a very tedious work to get rid of this plant and it involves hiring other young village folks to assist, which is costly. The fertilizer is not cheap, as you know, and coupled with labour costs, what I harvest yields very little.
“I used to earn about K293/kg but over time, since the tambala has multiplied extensively, I get half of the overall revenue per harvest,” he said.
Another we visited was a lady pineapple farmer, Mayi Modester Ndemango, who showed the media what she said is locally named Thurumene, which is also another invasive specie that is greatly infesting on her and other people’s field.
She said she was earning about K20,000 per fortnight but that is cut down to half since the invasive plant greatly eats up the soil’s nutrients leaving her pineapple in stunted growth.
The invasive tambala plant species is also affecting the large tea estates which use machinery to clear time and at Mini Mini, its reservoir dam is completely clogged with what is known as Kariba weed (scientific name Salvinia molesta).
Environmental Affairs Department’s Chief Environmentalist, Boniface Chimwaza — who was the training and the site tour’s facilitator — said the Kariba weed reproduces wickedly and the best solution is biological control using some specific weevil species.
He added that another solution of control of invasive species is using chemicals but that proves to be expensive as chemicals needed are supposed to be selective to the particular invasive plant specie while some chemicals affect other biodiversity — thus cannot be used for a specific invasive specie.
On the case of tambala plant, Chimwaza indicated that it has an advantage in that once uprooted and burned, the ash acts as fertilizer to the field, which was also attested to by tea farmer Enes Phiri.
But Chimwaza said that advantage cannot be promoted because at the same time it gives the tambala the opportunity to be persistent, thus defeating the whole idea of its control and possible triumph of eradicating it.
He said the invasive alien species (IAS) management project coordinated by his department, in liaison with LWT and WESM is under the title; ‘Enhancing sustainability of Protected Area systems in Malawi, and stabilizing agro-production in adjoining areas through improved IAS Management’.
In his presentation, Chimwaza emphasised that IAS are one of the biggest threats to biodiversity and livelihoods — thus the project to engage farming communities as well as game reserves and national parks on their management.
Areas under scrutiny for management through the project are on Mulanje Mountain, Phalombe District as well as Nyika National Park’s pine forest, which is also posing a threat to biodiversity.
He added that there is a need to control invasive alien species in the game reserves and national parks as they kill off the native feeding plants for wildlife and that’s a threat since the wildlife would migrate elsewhere.
“Wildlife attracts tourists and if they migrate from the natural habitat because their source of food is dying away, such game reserves and national parks will become unattractive to tourists — thus affecting the country’s economy,” he said.
He added that the pine forest at Nyika National Park was created to act as a shield to the chilly weather up hills but its seeds are spread out across other areas through wind when they get stuck to wildlife as well as humans through boots and vehicles.
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