By Beni Bamusi 

Thyolo, July 12, Mana: Farmers in Thyolo have been urged to embrace Integrated Catchment Conservation methods to improve their livelihoods and mitigate effects of climate change by promoting stability in the eco-system of catchment areas. 

Thyolo District Council Chairperson, Rhustin Banda made the appeal at Maonga Primary School ground in the area of Sub Traditional Authority Mlenga in the district.

Banda said effects of climate change can not be overemphasized, saying people need to restore the environment.

“The district has recently experienced drought which has affected our harvests, if we are to follow catchment management initiatives, we can multiply our harvests,” he said. 

Thyolo District Council Chief Agriculture Officer, Mphatso Kafuwa said the campaign will enhance good agricultural practices to farmers and villages as a whole so they can do everything with environmental conservation in mind. 

“We are experiencing climate change due to environmental degradation. So, we need to plant trees in mountains, start gully reclamation which will rejuvenate the environment,” Kafuwa said.

Kafuwa urged all agriculture extension development coordinators from all the extension planning areas (EPAs) to emulate what is at Thyolo Central EPA where the launch has taken place.

Chief Land Resources Conservation Officer from Blantyre Agriculture Development Division, Medson Thole urged the farmers to conserve their fields using an integrated conservation method, particularly by planting trees in the upper catchment and practicing agroforestry to enhance crop production.

He said land is a very scarce resource in Thyolo, advsing farmers to restore the eroded soil, saying it is a big challenge to open up new farms.

Thole encouraged farmers to use fertilizer multiplication methods like Mbeya, noting that the inorganic fertilizer cannot be affordable to everyone in the country. 

In his remarks, Sub Traditional Authority Mlenga thanked the district agriculture office for considering his area to host the launch, saying it shows that his area is working hard to restore degraded pockets of land and deforested areas.

Sub T/A Mlenga encouraged farmers in his area to emulate what other farmers were doing so that the area will be food secure. 

Team Leader from Lujeri and Nchima Tea Estates, one of Thyolo District Council’s stakeholders, Hannock Maluwa, said it is high time farmers and people in Thyolo start to conserve natural resources in the district, noting that this will ease pressure on natural resources. 

“We highly encourage farmers to start planting trees in their farms and along river banks. This will reduce the malpractice of people stealing logs of trees from tea estate forests, even encroaching company land and opening up farms because their fields cannot give enough yields since the soil has been eroded away,” he said.