Malawi river and irrigation

1 – THE DISASTER:  after 14 years, Malawi had to face another flood this year, especially the regions in Southern Malawi (the working area of the Stéphanos Foundation).

Unless the incitements of the government to leave the places around the rivers and to start a new life somewhere else, people decided to stay where they used to live, which can be explained easily. Your home is where you can work and where you own your piece of land, because this is what you need for a living.  Malawi is a very long stretched country, from the North to the South it is approximately 900 kilometres, from East to West about 240 kilometres. The river Shire is a kind of artery which starts in the North and runs down until it passes the enormous Malawi Lake. It continues as a big river to finally end in the Zambesi river, which ends in the Indian Ocean. Full of emotion, the explorer and missionary Livingstone stood on the banks of the river 160 years ago and he had to admit that people were not able to regulate the tides of the river nor to be able to use the water for watering the land.

The last decennia, every rain season (December until March) was critical because the rainwater from the north and middle of Malawi is passed down via the Shire river to the South, were tiny rivers grew into enormous lakes in just a little time. In the beginning of this year, this resulted into 180 people drowning, a lot of collapsed or damaged homes, and great damage to the upcoming crops. Now, the Southern part of Malawi is a desolate place and people are afraid of the coming famine. There is rain in Malawi for only three months a year, and people have to live with what crops they can raise during this time.   

2 – GLOBAL VISION: The government took the initiative to set up programs to help the people in the first place, and afterward focus on local development. The following views arose. Vegetables and corn should be raised on the blanks of the Shire rivers. This is especially necessary for the corn, which is eaten twice a day by Malawians. If there is enough water available, the farmers must try to raise a second and maybe even a third crop, because the climate is perfectly suited for this. When the water in the Shire river is flowing, fertile clay deposits can help make the low blanks of the river suited for the raising of crops. 

3 – ORIGIN OF IRRIGATION: Since ages humans have been able to transfer water and bring it to both animals and plants. Most of the time humans cooperate doing this, because natures gives a valuable gift, water, that has to be shared among humans. Especially in Asia a lot of wonderful techniques were used to transfer the water by hand. A pump and a waterwheel are the most important examples. People in Africa have to live with just three months with rain. Well-known is the use of terraces in the hills and the different ways of water storage in plain areas. The techniques are further developed now and today, we are able to bring the water everywhere. It is a challenge for the local people to cooperate without having too much costs to optimally use the precious water.

4 – IRRIGATION ALONG THE RIVER SHIRE: In our situation, we are blessed with the availability of a lot of fresh water, but we miss the technical means to realise the use of irrigation. We are having a delivery flow for about nine months a year and the steep banks of the river are strengthened by the calcareous water, so there is barely deterioration of the banks, which is also proven during the floods of this year. In the next article, we like to explain how Stéphanos deals with the famine and about our irrigation project, which makes it possible that a lot of farmers can harvest a second or even a third crop in a dry period.

Photo: Shire river