2015-06_WFO_Farmletter_ENG_web

WFO F@rmletterCASE STUDIES & BEST PRACTICESMALAWIANSMALLHOLDERFARMERS CONTINUETO RAISE THE BARHIGHER IN TREEPLANTINGDyborn ChibongaCHIEF EXCUTIVE OFFICER NASFAMENASFAMTree Planting 1Every year in January,after the joy of the rain seasoncomes into full swingmembers of the NationalSmallholder Farmers Association ofMalawi always have one event to lookforward to; planting trees in their communities.Upon visiting Eunice Banda, asmallholder farmer from Muhawi village,Mzimba district located in the northernregion of Malawi she chants a song ofcelebration with her fellow women ofMuhawi Women’s Club; a song of ululationand triumph after they have soldover half of their 6,000 tree seedlings.Next on their agenda is to distribute theseseedlings among themselves to plantin their households and along the primaryschools which some of their children goto. But this is just a small fraction of thebigger picture; throughout the country,NASFAM members have done exactlywhat Banda and her fellow women havedone and even more.It is alarming to note the extent of environmentaldegradation that has occurredin Malawi over the past years; largeswathes of forests have disappeared andfertile soils have been lost due to erosion.Forest cover is being lost at the rate ofat 2.4 percent every year and more landcould become bare in the near future. Asa result, cases of soil erosion and floodingwill increase. It is against this backgroundthat NASFAM has over the years participatedactively in the national and globaleffort to reverse environmental degradationand build resilient communities andfarming systems in the wake of climatechange. One major area where the organisationhas registered enviable successis in tree planting.With support from Development Partnerssuch as IrishAid and the RoyalNorwegian Embassy, NASFAM has todate planted over 18 million trees inMalawi. Through farmer clubs and othergroups such as Muhawi Women’s Club,farmers develop their own tree nurseriesand set up plans on the areas to plant thesetree seedlings in their communities.NASFAMTree Planting 2“Every year we have more than 2,000tree seedlings to plant in our community.We have also adopted this as a businessventure where we sell some of the seedlingsto other organisations who plantin other areas. What is fascinating is thatout of the 30 of us women, each one of usgets to plant at least more than 10 treesevery year,” explains Banda, the Chairpersonfor Muhawi Women’s Club.Back in January this year, after persistentflooding had left thousands of smallholderfarmers homeless, and landless, NA-SFAM led by the theme “Do your part,plant a tree every year” launched the 2015tree planting season on 10th Januaryin Zomba district, south of Malawi. The14