Temwa Carbon Balance: Farmer Flywell Chiumya increases his income and grows more trees
Flywell Chiumya lives with his wife and six children in Kalangalira village, about 40km inland of Usisya and Lake Malawi in Nkhata Bay north. Flywell used to make his living as a builder but he couldn't earn enough to support his family. As a result, his family often didn’t have enough food to eat and the children would regularly go to school hungry.
When children go to school hungry, they find it difficult to perform at their best and this can impact school attendance. Many children drop out of school to support family incomes for this reason. Not only that but chronic hunger can also lead to malnutrition and affect long-term health - affecting adults and children alike.
Flywell knew something had to be done so he left the building trade to begin farming and to provide more food and income for the family. However, he was struggling to grow enough food to sustain his family, let alone make a living. Flywell had used the most widely available farming methods, but these were turning out to be unreliable due to a lack of resources and training. Unfortunately, his land was also frequently eroded by persistent rainfall. This is an ever-increasing pressure for many farmers across Malawi as the climate crisis continues to mount for people living in the Global South.
How Flywell overcame these challenges
Flywell sought Temwa’s support for tree seedlings to plant around his household, as well as training on regenerating natural forests. Temwa also provided him with training on sustainable agriculture skills such as making organic manure fertiliser, constructing marker ridges, and making natural pesticides. As a result, Flywell has now been able to plant 80 orange fruits which he grafted with Temwa’s training.
Two years later he is now harvesting the literal fruit of his labours from the trees he has planted. Now Flywell is growing enough that he can sell his surplus fruit to supplement his family’s income. He also has over 2000 pine trees that are fully grown, and another set of 2500 pine trees, which are around two years old. Crucially, these are also helping to prevent run-off and soil erosion, which means his crop yield is also being improved.
This planting season, he has planted 670 pine and agroforestry trees and has begun regenerating two acres of natural forest near his home.
Plans for the Future
Flywell wants to expand his farming produce to sell for a profit, and increase the amount of land he can regenerate. He hopes to train others in budding and grafting so that his community can plant more fruit trees.
Flywell says: “Community members are now more interested in looking after natural resources because of the discussions that Temwa has been having with the community”.
"Now thanks to these discussions, each and every member of the community is planting trees as well as looking after natural existing forests"
The community in Kalangalira has raised a tree nursery of agroforestry, fruit, and pine trees which are being out-planted during this 2022/23 planting season. The community is also using skills learned in Temwa-led training sessions, such as cultivation and making organic fertiliser. The impact of this training - from reforesting areas through tree planting to helping improve the lives of people in these communities - will last for years to come.
