By Fostina Mkandawire

Salima, November 7, Mana: Chiefs in Salima have hailed environmental interventions in the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme, for assisting them restore their degraded landscapes.

Speaking to Malawi News Agency on Wednesday, Traditional Authority (TA) Maganga, highlighted tangible impacts witnessed in her area through the programme, citing that the geographical terrain of her area makes it prone to floods and water run offs.

She said before introduction of the programme the area was experiencing dwindling farm produce caused by water run offs.

She said most crops were swept away and even soil had lost fertility.

Maganga, therefore, said the tides are now changing since the inception of the programme in 2022 as community members are now practicing climate smart agriculture upon realizing how hazardous some of their farming practices were to the environment.

“Most farmers were not following recommended ridge alignment, they could plough their ridges in the opposite direction whereby, after rains, everything in their farms was washed away.

"Unnecessary cutting down of trees was worrisome, despite putting in place bylaws; people could still carelessly cut down trees. Charcoal production had taken a centre stage in my community.

“However, introduction of the programme has helped keeping the land covered, thereby improving soil fertility,” said Maganga.

Senior Chief Kambwiri expressed satisfaction with the programme saying his area has benefited from the work and people's livelihood have improved through the wages they receive.

"This programme is transformative because many households are benefiting. And after being paid, some are buying livestock’s, paying their children's school fees and buying food. We don’t take this for grante," he said.

He said, as a community leader, it pleases him to see his people benefiting from such programmes, which integrates community contribution and public works, because it instils a sense of responsibility in the beneficiaries.

"This is not a programme that distributes free things, but people have to show their responsibility by contributing towards environmental protection which will benefit everyone even those that are not participating in the programme directly," he said.

Senior Chief Kalonga described the programme’s system of beneficiary selection as good.

The programme uses the Unified Beneficiary Registry which assures everyone that the names of participants were not tampered with.

"We are satisfied with how names were selected into the programme and what is more pleasing is that participants work on fields of community members who are not in the programme, meaning that the benefits are shared evenly," he said.

The programme, which is a component of the Social Support for Resilient Livelihood Programme (SSRLP Tidzidalire), is being implemented by the Malawi Government through the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) and is being supported by the World Bank and the Social Protection Multi-Donor Trust Fund.