As climate change continues showing its ugly face on Malawi and the global at large, an expert is of the view that embracing rainwater harvesting technology could help the country to easily cope up and thrive during dry spell calamities that affects farming.
Recently, Malawi experienced a second wave of El Nino-induced one month-long dry spells which have withered thousands of hectares of crops thereby raising fears of poor harvests this year, worsening the hunger situation which has already affected millions of people by now.
However, MacPherson Nthara who is the president of Rainwater Harvesting Association of Malawi, says if rainwater harvesting can be taken seriously in the country, it can pose as a standout especially during such dry spell calamities which are a result of climate change.
Nthara who is also Deputy Director for Land Resources Conservation Department at the Ministry of Agriculture further told Malawi24 that apart from that, during unprecedented rising demand for water resources largely due to the country’s population pressure, harvesting rainwater for household use would as well help to reduce political pressure on water utility companies.
He said during normal rainfall, people can collect rainwater from roof tops, ground surfaces, roadsides and other impervious surfaces using a range of techniques ranging from low cost measures like clay pots, drums and buckets to the more complex water tanks, ponds and earth dams and water can be used for domestic applications and in production activities like agriculture, thereby avoiding the recent bad experiences.
“There is evidence that climatic parameters (e.g. rainfall, flood-drought occurrence) are changing, the phenomenon has altered the availability and pattern of water resource distribution both in spatial and temporal dimensions thereby creating localized water shortages in some parts of the country. Rainwater Harvesting has been commended for providing mitigation strategies to such climate change risks.
“Rainwater harvesting has shown not only to improve the immediate water situation but also leads to a whole range of software benefits to the individual and communities that include; increased food and water security at household and community levels and Provision of an independent back up water supply system supply for emergencies,” said Nthara.
On how Malawi is fairing, he was quick to mention that there is an increased sense of awareness on the technology especially in light of the recent dry spells.
He revealed that field agronomic water harvesting practices have been mainstreamed in both government and NGO programmes, notably the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme.
He then wooed Malawians to embrace Rainwater Harvesting saying it is a flexible technology that can be applied at a small or large scale and can meet the ever-growing needs for water for consumptive and non-consumptive uses.
While describing it as a significant technology that has proven to be more viable and able to complement conventional methods of water supply, the expert further suggested a budgetary allocation to support people with funds to construct some rainwater harvesting tanks.
“My message to the citizenry is that let us embrace rainwater harvesting both for domestic and agricultural uses. In many African countries, rainwater harvesting has been fully incorporated in government programmes through budgetary support. There is also need for subsidies to support communities or individuals to construct water harvesting tanks, ponds and dams,” he added.
However, Nthara reported that there is also need for both private and public sectors to join hands and create mass movement on rainwater harvesting and intensive campaign using multi media platforms.
Currently, some of the notable NGOs promoting Rainwater Harvesting in Malawi include; CPAR Malawi who have just completed the construction of 30,000 litter Ferro cement Tanks for rainwater storage.
