By Memory Chatonda
Blantyre, March 29, Mana: Malawi Watershed Services Improvement Project (MWASIP) Coordinator for Blantyre District, Owen Malimba, has said the project has scaled up land restoration activities to about 8,483 hectares against 12,234 hectares projected target.
Malimba disclosed this on Thursday during a meeting that was held to discuss MWASIP implementation with traditional leaders, Catchment Management Committee (CMC) and Area Development Committee (ADC) members at Traditional Authority Kunthembwe’s area.
He said the land restoration and other environmental conservation related activities were done under sustainable land management component which involves gully reclamation, construction of stone bands, swales and conservation agriculture among others.
He added that the project also supported about 15,000 communities participating in MWASIP activities with matching grants and Community Environmental Conservation Fund (CECF).
“For matching grants, about K832 million has been disbursed to 30 farmers' groups, while under CECF, about K461 million has been given to the communities," Malimba said.
Senior Traditional Authority Kunthembwe also hailed MWASIP currently being implemented in his area, for restoring the degraded landscapes and also improving the people's livelihoods.
The senior chief acknowledged interventions such as sustainable land management (SLM) activities, saying great impact has been registered in the area, citing landscape restoration.
"Apart from this, the project also supported 30 farmers' groups participating in SLM activities with matching grants to venture into different business enterprises such as poultry farming, beekeeping, and livestock farming, while others were supported with money from the CECF to start income generating activities to sustain their livelihoods," he added.
Senior Chief Kunthembwe said he will continue encouraging his subjects to maintain assets that have been created through the project.
A CMC member at Namitondo in Kunthembwe area, Pililani Gulo, commended MWASIP for bailing out his family from abject poverty.
"MWASIP, through CECF, gave me about K500,000 to start a small-scale business and, today, I manage different businesses, including a grocery shop, to support my two children with basic needs," she said.
The meeting was organized under MWASIP's social marketing activity to allow different influential groups at the local level to reflect on the project as it is expected to phase out in the next 12 months.
