Wilson Banda and Adopting Sustainable Farming Methods
Mr Banda lives with his wife and 4 children, Brenda, Chrissy, Lizzie and Mtenda in Jembe, Northern Malawi.
Previously being a small-scale farmer in the region, he has been involved in training on manure making and beekeeping, expanding his agri-business as well as helping conserve the forest where he lives. With only %3 of forests remaining in Malawi, high deforestation rates still need to be addressed for subsistence farmers, often resorting to unsustainable land management and agricultural practices just to get by.
Relying on growing and selling vegetables and maize, Mr Banda reached out to Temwa to see what could be done.
“I knew Temwa from a meeting in Kaulasisi during a forest management meeting with the VDC (Village Development Committee). As a member of the forest management committee, this meeting attracted me to engage more with Temwa.”
Back in September this year, the Temwa team in Malawi took the bold step of involving government Officials to popularise the Amended Forest Act of 2020 to Jembe and neighbouring Kanolo. 26 members of these groups were made aware of the revised penalties in the Act, supporting the community members like Mr Banda to further protect forested areas.
Working with Temwa, Mr Banda is now getting support growing his beekeeping operation, planting more tree and bamboo seedlings, and expanding his agri-business.
“Temwa has had a huge impact on the community, with the trainings in manure making, a lot of people can harvest higher yields. A lot of people are practising winter cropping.”
Farmers like Mr Banda are taking proactive steps to combat high deforestation rates, lack of access to seeds and stagnant beekeeping operations. With Temwa Carbon Balances’ support, he and the community are building more climate-resilient agri-businesses going into the future.
Our community-led approach enables local people like Mr Banda to plant more trees, enforce forestry management and adopt sustainable farming methods like manure-making and beekeeping. It's a partnership: the work we do to capture carbon also benefits people. We help communities to produce green, fertile landscapes, improving soil quality for farming and building greater resilience to climate shocks.
